Celebrate your child's love of learning

© Wondertime

My sisters and I have a traveling scrapbook: Each person adds two pages, then mails it to the next person.

— Robin Toole, California

We carry our laptop around the house so, via webcam, the grandparents can read bedtime stories to the kids and be included in moments like blowing out birthday candles.

— Kim Bosworth, Wisconsin

We gave my husband's grandmother an empty photo album when we were pregnant. When we upload photos to shutterfly.com we have them print a few and send them to her.

— Alissa Shields, New York

My 4-year-old loves yellow, so her grandmother gave her yellow stationery for Christmas. A few times a week Caroline will approach me, yellow envelopes (filled and sealed, slightly damp and wrinkled) in hand, with requests for stamps and addresses. I've had relatives and friends call to thank us for blank paper, scraps, and even nothing.

— Stacey Loscalzo, New Jersey

I try to keep a manila envelope addressed to a faraway family member on top of my desk. I'll drop in drawings, articles, photos, etc., and when it's full I seal it with a kiss and send it off.

— Stacy Quaid, Florida

My mother sends disposable cameras with instructions to take pictures of my two kids. We mail the cameras back, and she sends us copies of the prints. She gets to stay in touch even though she doesn't have a computer, and we get that old-time excitement of seeing a picture we've forgotten about, something that's absent from the world of digital cameras.

— Shauna Huck, Illinois

I set up a Yahoo Group for our family, so now we only have to send one e-mail, and everyone gets it.

— Andrea McKenzie, Connecticut

We bought subscriptions to Ceiva, a digital photo service, for all four sets of grandparents. They plug the frame into an outlet and phone jack, and the system dials a local number nightly to upload new photos and greetings.

— Kimberly Towne, Georgia

For a while I sent photos via e-mail, but I couldn't send enough to satisfy the grandparents, and felt guilty inundating the in-boxes of busy friends. Then I started blogging. Blogger.com made it easy to create a template, and I can integrate pictures and videos when I write about my boys. The grandparents can look at it every day, and friends can look whenever they have a chance. (I still get hounded by the grandparents if I don't update it often enough!)

— Heather Mirman, South Carolina

I'd much prefer to be going on and on about how we've been sending letters to faraway relatives, but instead, the lure of technology has drawn me in. I started blogging as a way to keep in touch with family, but it's grown into something bigger — a community of friends drawn together by similar talents, interests, and struggles. (Oh, and now I live about two minutes away from my family, but I'm still blogging. There's a much bigger family out there now — one that I'm not quick to walk away from.)

— Molly Balint, Maryland

Editor's note: Many of you told us how blogging has changed the way you keep in touch with family and friends (for the better). Read Catherine Newman's "Confessions of a Mommy Blogger."

We Want Mail

Please tell us: How do you teach your child about being eco-friendly? We'd love to hear about how you've integrated green rituals into your family life, or about resources that have helped you explain to your child the importance of trying to preserve the environment. E-mail us at familytraditions@wondertime.com.