Keeping in Touch With Parents

It can be hard to find time to keeping in touch with parents. Especially after having a child, the juggling act of raising kids, working, and spending time with a spouse can become difficult. Sadly, keeping in touch with parents oftentimes gets put on the backburner, especially if they live far away. Modern technology has made keeping in touch more convenient -- sending an email or text message only takes a few second. Unfortunately, this solution doesn’t work if our parents are not great with technology. We have no choice but to keep in touch with our parents or grandparents the old fashioned way. Here are some tips to be better at keeping in touch.

• Set aside time to call your parents in your calendar. Block off some time in your calendar just like you would with any other meeting. You’ll find that just committing on paper a scheduled time to call will help enormously.
• If you’re finding it hard to find a block of time to set aside, call your parents or grandparents during some “dead time” – for example, while you are waiting in line or commuting (be sure to use a hands free kit if you are driving). We have lots of times during the day when we can call. Parents understand your busy life and they would prefer a quick call over nothing at all.
• There’s a great web service called Postful. You simply write an email to Postful’s service with an address on the subject line. Postful will print the text of email on a postcard and mail it to the address you specified on the subject line. It’s as quick as sending an email.
• Send printed photos to your parents in the mail. With Picwing’s service, just email or upload the photos you would like mailed to your parents or grandparents. Every 2 weeks, Picwing will print and mail those photos to your parents, in-laws, or anyone else you specify on your "printing distribution list". It’s as quick and simple as sending email.