Developing more of a relationship with a far away 4 year old niece
My four year old niece lives far enough away that we only get to see them about once or maybe twice per year -- and usually she's busy playing with my kids (who are much older). I'm realizing that I really miss seeing her often and having more of a regular communication with her.
She isn't too big on talking on the phone or FaceTime or anything, so I thought it might be fun to try sending her a card once a month or something. But I'm realizing that I while I want to tell her what's going on mine and my family's life and hear the same from her that that might not be what she's into corresponding about. Then I thought it might be fun to write a story back and forth or maybe send her fun little mazes or something or maybe even jokes. Has anyone done anything like this with someone this age? Or perhaps is a teacher in this age group and has some suggestions? Thanks!
Parent Replies
When all of my nieces and nephews were young my husband and I made videos of us reading them books, making silly faces and telling jokes. They were short little videos and the kids loved them. Some of the kids watched their videos every night. It helps if the child’s parents will play it for them. My nieces and nephews are all in their 20s now and they still remember those videos!
I want to share what we do at our house to stay connect my kids and their grandma and grandpa in Japan. My now 5 year old has been enjoying to see grandma and grandpa through Skype with the activity of reading books since he was around 3. The point is to find some activity that the child enjoys and he/she wants to continue. My kid loves books. It seems, around his ages, he shares his days and activity he enjoys in more spontaneous way than at structural setting so I usually assist him to share his day and activity at school to his grandma at first 5 minutes or so and then he asks his grandma to read books for the rest of time. My mom goes to public library to borrow books and she reads to him. My mom also sends us photos of families and narratives so that I can share those to my kids. Hope this will help.