Pen Pal Wanted

Ask the high school. They usually have a Foreign language teacher who is doing that or might know.
We hosted a foreign exchange student last year, wonderful, educational, phenomenal experience.
She was 16 and became my then 12 year old's hero. My then 8 year old son loved her, we all do.

Well, we're not in anther country, but we're on the other side of the country :) I have a 10 year old daughter who LOVES to write real letters. She has even written them and sent them to herself before...yes, for real, lol. Let me know if you think your daughter may be interested, I'd be happy to be in contact with you.

You could check with some of your local churches. Many pastors travel to other countries or know of families in other countries who serve as missionaries. I attended a friend's church and there was a family visiting from Costa Rica. Anyway, it's worth a try.

I think it's wonderful for children to be and have pen pals. So few people actually sit down and write letters or send photos through the mail, etc anymore. There are so many different types of stamps too and collecting them can become part of the fun.

I hope you get some great responses.
Best wishes!

I don't really know about getting one from another country but what one of my kids teachers did when they were in 4th or 5th grade was to contact a catholic school a few towns over and the entire class got pen pals. I think there were about 23 or 24 kids in my sons class and the same in the other class. the kids wrote back and forth for the whole school year and at the end of the year the classes met for a field trip to a local park and had a picnic. it was fun. the kids had a blast.

Hi L.,

When I was a kid, I had a few pen-pals who lived overseas that I got from a kids' magazine I subscribed to. There was a section for choosing and offering oneself for pen-paldom (good word, eh?). I had some long term relationships and got a lot out of doing that. I'm sure today, the magazines for kids are more about how to kiss a boy (or worse!) than about that!

My daughter, now 11, wanted a pen pal a few years ago and we joined some online kids pen-pal (safe) site ($7 per year or something), that was supposed to help the kids find a pen-pal overseas, but it ended up that they just chatted on this site and nothing in depth, so it was not at all what we, (I), was looking for. Then, on the only other site I frequent and post on, another mother asked me if she thought my daughter, (we would all write in about our kids in various contexts), would like to be a pen-pal with her daughter. At first we had a rule that it could only be via pen and paper letters in the mail, but now, since they have established a nice friendship and like some of the same sites on line, we allow them to do both. They love to get each others hand written letters! I am sure this girl is my daughter's very best friend and they have never met!

As for getting one overseas, if you sponsor a child, as mentioned, you can specify that you are looking for one about the same age and gender. They send you a photo and info and let you choose if that child seems a good match before you get started. It usually costs about $30 per month and is very rewarding.

Otherwise, ask around people whom you know are from, or have contacts in other countries. Someone may know someone who has a little girl your daughter's age who would also love this opportunity. Perhaps you can contact a school overseas or have your school contact your "sister city's school).

Good luck. It's a great experience for kids! I'm so pleased to hear kids who are still interested in this kind of thing!

Are you a member of a church or religious organization that has missionaries in other countries? If so, you might want to contact the mission board and ask if they can put you into contact with a missionary. You might find a missionary's child who could be her pen pal, or the missionary might be able to put her in touch with a local child in their area.

As most have said, I love this idea, I had a pen pal in Texas and Holland when I was a kid and I always looked forward to the letters. I think I might try to contact a cub scout den in another state and let my scouts have pen pals. I agree with the church idea, our church has missionaries that are always going to another country and work with a lot of kids. Good Luck!

We are not in another country, but my daughter would LOVE to have a pen pal. She is 10 years old and we live in Illinois. Send me a private message if you are interested.

do you belong to a church? we sponsor a child from peru and they have the child write and in turn, we write back..

I work for a frozen vegetable company and a lot of our employees are from other countries - Germany, Spain, Costa Rica, Chile, Taiwan, Argentina. Plus, a lot of people are traveling a lot and know customers pretty much all over the world. If she is interested in getting a pen pal from any of these places I mentioned, I could probably find a contact for you in her age group. You wouldn't have to pay anything. My co-worker from Taiwan has a lot of family from there and I'm pretty close with her. Just send me a private message if you're interested.
I had a pen pal when I was young, and it was fun. She was just from Hayward. Her school sent my school letters after the 1989 earthquake and our class wrote to theirs asking them to be pen pals. It was a great experience!

Hi,

I liked Jamie's response-- you should have her daughter and your daughter be pen-pals! You never know they could end up being best friends in the future and really meet!

M