Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Things You’ll Need:
- Stationery with envelopes
- Pens
- Tape
- Sealing wax (optional)
Step1
Provide everyone with a few sheets of nice writing paper, a matching envelope and a new pen.
Step2
Explain the activity. Everybody will write a letter to themselves, listing goals they would like to accomplish in the New Year. Make sure everyone knows each letter will be sealed individually (using tons of tape) and stored until the following New Year’s Day. It’s essential that everyone must rest assured that a letter will only be read by its own writer.
Step3
You might want to precede the activity with a few examples to keep kids from setting themselves up. For example, a daughter who might write that in the coming year she hopes to learn to ride her own horse (which she doesn’t--or will not--own) might be encouraged to write instead, “Try horseback riding.” You might remind everyone that “Winning the lottery” is really a wish rather than a goal. In other words, encourage the realistically attainable.
Step4
Make suggestions for the letters. Writers might want to state goals positively: “Keep remembering to do homework” rather than “Don’t forget to do homework.” Propose that perhaps at least one goal somehow address the topic of relationships to others by suggesting a whole range of diverse subjects: reducing squabbles, remembering birthdays, demonstrating sympathy and other acts of kindness.
Step5
Explain that all family members will seal their own individual envelopes with tape, and write over the tape so that the envelopes will be tamper-proof. Or--more dramatically--use sealing wax. This way writers will be able to write more freely, confident in their privacy.
Step6
Give everyone adequate time for composing the letters—and some private space to do so if writers request it. Collect letters and, if possible, keep in a locked location—perhaps even in a safe deposit box.
Novice 
