By: Ragan Love

I am the oldest in my family. I have a brother who is two years younger than me and my four cousins are all around six to eleven years old. It has been hard for us to really have a connection because we are scattered across the country from New Hampshire, to Colorado, to Oregon. But our Grandmother has created an activity that helps us all connect and also helps my younger cousin with their writing skills. 

It all started because my youngest cousin was having a hard time writing so he never wanted to. My grandma started to write him a letter so he could write back but after a while my grandma came up with a new way to get him to write. She gave an introduction to a story and sent it to him and asked for him to write the next part of the story. He did and sent it back to my grandma and she was excited to see how much he was into it. He was descriptive and had so many creative things to say. My grandmother decided to send this story to the next youngest cousin who was just as excited.

She went through my four cousins and then asked my brother and I if we wanted to contribute, and we jumped for the opportunity! I am so excited to be a part of this little family activity. I know how much it will help my cousins with their own writing skills and it will give me time to relax and be creative.

This is a wonderful opportunity for my younger cousins to be creative and to practice their writing skills and it’s an opportunity for me to relax and write. I have been swamped with school and work and this little activity is therapeutic for me.

Once I am done I will send my part of the story to my grandmother. We might get another round with this story or we might start a new one, but I am excited to see how our little project turns out. This is a wonderful project to do with the younger kids in your family and will help them with their basic writing skills and allow you to relax and write a story.