March Letter Topics

I can't believe it is already March! The year is 1/6 over. That's just crazy. Here are some ideas for letters you can write to your Compassion sponsor child in the month of March. I cannot stress the importance of letter-writing enough! Please, if you sponsor a child or have a correspondence sponsorship, make an effort to write to  your child at least once a month. The online letter-writing tool makes this extremely easy. Can you take the time to send an email? Then you can write a letter! It doesn't have to be long- even short letters are meaningful and important.

1. Easter. This is a pretty easy one! Easter is an important day for Christians. I guarantee your child's project will be doing something special for Easter. Ask your child what that is. Tell your child about Easter traditions in your family. I know so many holidays in America have a strong focus on food- Easter is one of those days. I know a lot of people (myself included) feel uncomfortable discussing this with their sponsor children, because there is likely to be a huge difference between our eating habits and theirs. However, there is nothing wrong with talking about some foodie topics with your kids. For example, I will tell my kids that on Easter Sunday, my husband and I will go to church, then we will go have lunch at my grandparents' house. We will then go to see Brandon's grandparents- both sets! It's also fun to talk about childhood Easter memories. One year Tasya wrote to me to say that for Easter, she and the other children at the project "hunted the egg." I wrote back to her to say that I loved hunting for Easter eggs when I was small, and that my grandmother had many pictures of me hunting eggs at her house. Tasya wrote back and said "I am always waiting for the picture of momma as a little kid, hunting the Easter eggs." So I called my mammaw and asked her to dig up some pictures for me. I scanned a few of them and sent them via the online letter writing tool. Tasya was thrilled! Easter offers an abundance of letter-writing ideas. You can also send your child Easter coloring pages (or even coloring books, if they are the right size), paper crafts, sticker sheets, bookmarks, and cards! Do you have a favorite song about Jesus' resurrection? Send your child some of the lyrics! Check out an online encyclopedia to see if there are any special Easter traditions in your child's country. 
2. Springtime. Spring officially begins in March. What is spring like where you live? Our sponsor kids like hearing about the changes in weather we experience, because so many of them live in tropical climates or other regions that basically have two seasons- wet and dry. Tell your child about the warmer weather heading our way. Are you excited about it? Why or why not? I live in an area prone to tornado warnings in the springtime. I have written to my kids before, asking them if they know what tornadoes are, and asking them to pray for the safety of the people where I live, since we can have severe weather this time of year. Do you have any beautiful flowers growing in your yard? Take a picture of some and send it with an online letter. You could even draw a picture of some spring flowers, or perhaps pick a small bloom, press it between two pieces of clear packing tape, and staple it to a letter. 
3. Local holidays. Check out an encyclopedia or a book about your child's country to see if there are any important holidays in the month of March. A quick search revealed that March contains the Bangladeshi Independence Day. If you sponsor a child in Bangladesh, you could write to your child and ask her how this holiday is celebrated in her country. Your child will be happy to know that you have taken the time to learn about her country. 
4. International Women's Day. This holiday is celebrated on March 8. It is officially recognized in a few countries where Compassion is active (Burkina Faso and Uganda), and several other countries celebrate it as well. Is your sponsor child a girl? Tell her you are praying for her as she grows up. Tell her you pray for her to be a godly woman, who is brave, strong, and smart. Tell her some of the things you appreciate about her. If your sponsor child is a boy, you can still discuss this with him. Ask him if there are any important women in his life- a teacher, a relative, a project volunteer? Ask him to pray for the women of his country, that they will be safe and treated fairly. 
5. Grandparents. My pappaw's birthday is in March (he happens to be the first grandparent birthday of the year.) Ask your child if he has any grandparents. Ask him how often he gets to see his grandparents. Are your grandparents still living? Share some fond grandparent-related memories with your child. I spent a lot of time with both sets of my grandparents growing up- maybe more time with them than I spent at my own house! So I have a wealth of writing material there. Our kids love hearing about our families, so you can share all sorts of details here. Here is an example: If I were to write a grandparent-themed letter to my kids, I would tell them my grandparents' names, and tell them what I call them (mimi and pappaw on my mom's side, mammaw and pappaw on my dad's side.) I would tell them that both sets of grandparents live close to me, and I am thankful for that. I would say that I had a lot of fun at my grandparents' houses when I was a kid. When I stayed with mimi and pappaw, I would have friends come over to play. We did lots of arts and crafts at mammaw and pappaw's house. 

The important thing is to share your life with your sponsor child. No matter what you are writing, they want to hear about it. Writing to them also gives them an invitation to open up to you. I can't tell you how many times I have read about kids who want so badly to write letters to their sponsors, but they feel they can't (or shouldn't) because they never receive letters. In almost every case, the more you write to your child, the more you will learn about your child in letters received from him or her.