I have given this some thought before even posting it, but I thought if we can have Americans posting on here that they want to receive Canadian Smarties and feel comfortable enough about giving some personal information out to another person and have food sent to them by a stranger, then perhaps this is okay.
I have been corresponding with several PA parents, all of whom I met from this site. At any rate, one of them had an e-mail sent from her 6 year old guy to my nearly 5 year old guy and they have now become computer buddies. They do know that they have one thing in common - they are both PA. This was important to my son because there are no other PA children in his school. But, that was simply the opening sentence in one e-mail. Now, they have only been corresponding for a couple of weeks, and obviously, at that age, it's the parents that are typing out the e-mails anyway. Well, yesterday, I received a package from Jesse's computer buddy's Mom which also included a picture of his computer buddy. You could not imagine the joy on my son's face! Well, he did not let go of that picture all last evening and even as he played at the computer tonight, that child's picture was beside him. It is very special to him.
I know that I have received pictures from other Moms of their PA children which are currently in Jesse's e-mail file to show him (if I can ever get him to stop this Nascar Revolution game!) and generally, when I'm corresponding with someone off-the-board, I tend to send a family photo so people can actually see who they're dealing with.
I'm sure a lot of you are already doing that and I'm sure a lot of you already have kids that have a computer friend like my son does.
And, if you live in a large city, where your child does know other PA children, then it's not something your child may even need. But before yesterday, my son had not seen anyone else with PA except Noah from NoNutsForMe.
For those of you corresponding off-the-site with other PA parents already, maybe you'd like to suggest that your kids could e-mail or even write back and forth, I know it depends on your child and if they're into that. You will not know the joy I received from having 20 penpals when I was a kid, all over the world. It was great!
But, I also thought I would start this thread in case some of you needed some help in co-ordinating ages of children and, if it is an issue, whether it's a boy or girl they write to. Do you know what I mean? Perhaps many of you do not e-mail off-the-board and don't want to but would like your child to have this experience. I know that I didn't think about the first e-mail between these two children, it was the other woman.
Anyway, please let me know what you think, and if anyone needs help and wants to say in their post, okay, I need a 5 year old girl to go with my 5 year old girl, I don't mind working out the details of it and matching people up. And, I actually thought that maybe this would happen with a lot of the people that were sending Smarties from Canada to The States, that their children would become friends of some sort, so it's almost an offshoot from that. Some may think I'm terribly silly, but if you had seen my son's face yesterday with his computer buddy's picture in his hand, it was priceless! Let me know what you think! Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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Well you just spoiled my surprise! lol ;-) Matt is a little young for writing or even dictating messages/letters to friends yet, but I had been planning on taking a pic of him with all his PA safe treats and sending it along with a thank-you note to redtruck's daughter.
When I was a little girl, my girl scout troop put on a puppet show (with singing) for a retirement home. We made puppets while we were there and gave them to the adopted 'grandparents'. About a week after the show, each of us received a thank you note and a picture of our 'grandparents' and their puppets in funny situations. I think this was our favorite part. We felt good after giving the puppet show, but we REALLY felt good when we knew that the 'grandparents' really liked the show and the puppets and were having fun with them. =)
Some of us wrote back and ended up corresponding with some of the 'grandparents' for quite awhile. My 'grandma' and I only exchanged 3 or 4 letters before I forgot to reply again, though. =(
Matt's Mom, see I thought a lot of people would probably decide to do this with the exchange of Smarties or already doing it with other parents that they're e-mailing anyway.
But it was just a thought for those people who don't want Smarties, i.e., other Canadians and ones who don't tend to make e-mail friendships off-the-board. I am absolutely positive that Redtruck's daughter will be thrilled to receive a picture! And, by the way, only Cara and I are allowed to post this late! LOL! Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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Well, I am hereby requesting permission to do likewise, then. lol I am known on all my egroups for staying up to all hours when I am on a 'research binge'. There have been several in the last two years. Some for myself, other times I research things for friends. This time, of course, it is PA. So, here I am. hehe
Chris who is going back to reading old threads now. =)
[This message has been edited by MattsMom (edited October 27, 2000).]
No permission required whatsoever, but beware, you may be questioned about why you are up posting so late, or if you do a lot of posts so late, you may be questioned about the # of posts! LOL! I had to go into a very long-winded (when could I ever be short?) explanation of why I posted so much, and a lot of it had to do with being up in the middle of the night due to insomnia and pain. Sorry. But, at least I feel I can come here and maybe contribute something or maybe not, so why not? I love it when it's especially this kind of quiet, no noise in the house at all and it's better than lying in bed in pain knowing that tomorrow is probably a write-off now anyway. Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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My PA son is 6, will be 7 years old in January. While he does have another PA child in his class, I think he would love to have an e-pal. His older non-PA brother has had a mail pen-pal since he was about 4 yrs old (they started off by drawing pictures to send each other) and he's always been rather jealous of him.
By the way, we're in Toronto Canada, and I don't think it would really matter to him where his e-pal was from, but I think he'd really like it if it was a boy.
If anyone thinks their child would be interested in writing to him, please e-mail me and we can swap details.
My daughter is 6 and although we have met a few PA children, I think she would love this. I would especially like to match her up with a girl, since all of the other PA children we have met are boys, and she asked me if there are any other girls with the same allergy. Great idea, Cindy!
Torontosue, would you mind posting in this thread if you do get a penpal for your son?
Otherwise, I would put him on my co-ordinating list that I'll check each day, as I do with the Smarties (sorry to compare our wonderful children to Smarties!). Carolyn M., I may have someone in mind for your daughter. And, again, as is most usual, it was not "original thought" on my part. The other PA Mom I write to thought of doing this first and it worked wonderfully with Jesse so I thought I would share basically her idea. Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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CINDY
What a great idea, can you sign up my Theresa in about 3 years, I htink she can dictate by then, at least I hope she can [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
I think its wonderful, even though my child is too yound, I certainly hope when she is old enough to get on the computer without destroying the mouse, that she can chat with and relate to other kids with PA.
MAY YOU BE NOMINTAED FOR SAINT HOOD
My son is 4 years old and does not know anyone who is PA. He has enjoyed writing to Morgansmom's daughter since she sent him some Smarties. He would love to have another e-pal to write to....though it takes him forever and I correct some of the spelling. When he gets an email I print it out and he reads it by himself! He loves this type of communication because he is a computer 'pro'. Thanks Cindy.
Wow, NaomiR, you've just given me a REALLY GOOD IDEA! Jesse knows his alphabet, etc. so why isn't he typing the e-mails to his computer buddy? Hmm. That would be educational as well as him still communicating with his friend. He has one to answer right now!
For everyone else, I'll check later tonight and see if I can co-ordinate the ages/sexes of who needs matched up. I have two screaming beejeebees running around right now so my mind is not working! As far as sainthood, again, it was not original thought on my part, and some would also say in response to that that obviously I have nothing bloody better to do with my time! LOL! Best wishes! [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img]
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