By Riley Wilson
Sitting down to write a letter to her friends is now Scarlett Frost's favourite time of day. The eight-year-old from West Pennant Hills in Sydney started writing letters to her friends and cousins after her mother Renee implemented the practice as part of her homeschooling.
"Usually it's as soon as we get into school, we write a letter," Scarlett said. "I've done most of them to my friends. I did one to Gran and Pop, and two to my cousins, and one to my favourite teacher.
"It's kind of turned into my favourite part of the day."
Eight-year-old Scarlett Frost drops a letter off at the local postbox. Writing letters has become one of her favourite pastimes.Credit: Dean Sewell
Since March 23, Scarlett and her 9-year-old brother have been attending school from home. Ms Frost has been printing out personalised stationery for each child, with Scarlett's recent materials featuring unicorn paper and matching envelopes.
While Ms Frost deems Scarlett's brother a more "reluctant writer", he received a reply before Scarlett did, which suitably irked her.
Scarlett waits for the postman's daily visit.Credit: Renee Frost
"I was thinking none of his friends would write back because they're boys," Scarlett said. "Then I got so many letters and I forgot who I had to write back to."
Scarlett said letter writing has enabled her and her friends to discuss the strange new normal, because she didn't get to farewell her friends before lockdown.
"I told them that I miss them and I also ask them to write back because I get really annoyed when I don't get one back from them," she said. "Sometimes I write about my feelings about homeschool and the coronavirus."
Grandmother Jennifer Richmond and her friend Susan Pepper both keep the letter-writing tradition they each knew as children alive with their next of kin. Ms Richmond writes letters to her grandchildren and Ms Pepper to her great-niece. Ms Pepper's niece Charlotte, with newly acquired handwriting skills, has taken to writing back to her with "her beautiful infant cursive script".
"You don’t keep emails and you don’t keep text messages in the same way, but I keep the handwritten letters and the envelopes and the stamps," says Ms Pepper. In order to keep the letter-writing spirit alive for children, she says, parents need to step in and offer encouragement – and stamps.
Encouraging her children to write letters has rekindled Ms Frost's interest in her own letter-writing. The other day, she came across a bundle of letters she and her siblings wrote to her sister when she was a kid.
"I should [write letters too], I should lead by example," Ms Frost says. "I might sit down and start doing it with the kids."
Melanie Knight of Dead Letter Club in Melbourne says that the process of letter-writing is as much about the writer as the intended recipient.Credit: Emma-Jane Johnston
Take the time to write a letter consciously, Melanie Knight advises. The founder and coordinator of the Dead Letter Club in Melbourne says that it can be a selfish act too.
"It's an offering for both yourself to take time, and for someone else," says Ms Knight. "It's always keeping in mind that it's an act of generosity."
She encourages eager letter-writers to not put pressure on themselves to "write a five-page masterpiece" but rather to "think of it like a hug right now and how joyful a hug can be". Little doodles and pressed flowers help too, she says.
"I hope that it would have a bit of a legacy when we're out the other side, that people continue to keep writing letters, that it's not just, 'Oh, that's what we did during corona or during isolation', that this is how we connect."
Scarlett says she will "definitely" continue writing letters once she returns to school and seeing her friends. But for now, she will keep looking forward to the postman's daily visit.
While she'd love a letter in reply, Scarlett is sending letters to friends and family because she hopes it will make them happy.Credit: Dean Sewell
"I really like that sometimes you get letters in reply, and it’s really, really exciting when you see the postman come and you just see him there. If you don’t get a letter, it’s a little bit disappointing but I know that my friends might write back," she says.
"I also like making them happy. If they’ll get a letter, I'm sure they’ll be pretty happy about it."
For those looking to dabble in the art of letter writing, Knight has some tips:
- Remove the pressure. "A letter doesn’t have to be pages and pages to show you care. A note to say you’re thinking of them is enough."
- Slow down. Letters are known as "snail mail" for a reason. Knights says: "Writing a letter is an exercise in thinking about what you want to say, and how you want to say it."
- Be yourself. "Use familiar phrases so your reader can recognise your voice in the writing, and feel that bit closer to you." A conversational tone is encouraged.
- Connect. "Ask a few questions, recall a shared experience, tell them what you're grateful for in your friendship."
- Get creative. "Draw pictures, add stickers, use washi tape. Decorate the letter, or better still, make envelope art and put a smile on the postie's face too," says Knight.
- Write to yourself. Or find a penpal. Knight says the Dead Letter Club's mailbox is open: PO Box 371, Elwood, Victoria 3184.
Looking for some good news?
We could all do with some good news right about now. That’s why we have launched The Good News Group, a Facebook group where we’ll share uplifting, inspiring and positive stories and invite members to do the same. Join the group here.