My husband and I have been sponsors with Compassion for about six years. During that time, I’ve heard a lot about the importance of writing letters to our sponsored kids.
We even have a friend now who was once a child in the Compassion program, and he’s spoken about the importance of sponsor letters to him. I know writing to my sponsored child is important, and I do it pretty often, but sometimes I’m just stumped about where to start.
I decided to draft a list of specific questions that would help me explain my life and myself to a sponsored child.
Of course, if our child asks questions, I answer them. But I’ve found that children don’t always have the skill to carry on “conversations.” Giving them information about me is a good place to start.
These prompts are questions for you to answer about yourself. Expand on the answers, as space permits, in a letter to your sponsored child. Enjoy!
Your Childhood
- What activities did you enjoy as a child?
- Who was your favorite teacher? What was the teacher like?
- Whom did you admire as you were growing up? Why?
- How did you get your name? What does it mean?
- Did you grow up in church? How did you come to know Jesus?
- What was a challenge you had to overcome as a child or teenager?
- What was your favorite part of school?
- What was your least favorite part of school?
- What happened during a typical school day?
- What was your first job like?
Your Life Today
- What is your typical day like now?
- What do you do at church/work/school?
- What do you like most about your hometown?
- What are some interesting facts about your state/province/region?
- How do you relax?
- What’s your favorite holiday? How would you describe the sights, sounds, smells, tastes?
- What’s your biggest challenge at the moment?
- What other human understands you better than anyone else? How did you come to know this person?
- What are you learning right now?
- What’s one of your favorite Bible stories or passages? Why?
I wrote my sponsored children today and sent along picture postcards. They’re fun to receive, inexpensive and showcase things in the area.
This is a great idea if you live in an area where you can easily get postcards. Durable, too.
This was fantastic! Thank you so much for the great ideas. I’m always cautious about what NOT to say, so much to the point where I do get stumped, so this has been really helpful. Thank you for sharing these ideas — I know they will be helpful to my future letter-writing to our kids. Blessings!
Thanks, Lydia. I’m glad to share ideas. It’s not always easy writing to people we haven’t spent a lot of time with.
What a great idea!!! I have never thought about sending postcards. We have so much more than the children we sponsor, my 10 year old finds it difficult not to talk about our “things”. Thanks
Thanks for the great ideas!! I am bookmarking this for the next time I write to my boy in India, since I just wrote him today for Christmas.
hi
thank you very much , can we get samples of business reports in this site too, please
thank you
Hi! Would you please clarify what you mean by business reports? You can view our financial information here: http://www.compassion.com/about/financial.htm. We also have a blog post on the subject here: http://blog.compassion.com/financial-accountability-how-is-my-money-used-each-month/ Thanks! -Susan
I would love to send postcards. How do I send it to my child when I needs translation? And to what address do i send it
Hi Tina! If a postcard or greeting card needs translation and there is no room on the item itself, our translators will attach the translation on a separate peice of paper. The child will receive both the original and the translation just like when you receive letters from your child.
Please send all letters and paper items to:
Compassion International
Colorado Springs, CO 80997-0004
-Susan
I wrote my sponsered child to day for the first time in a long time due to things going on in my life and it hit me one of the best things in my life right now is her and I shouldn’t let anything stop me from writing her. I feel so blessed to be able to write to her and watch her grow