Claudette's Blog

A while back, I asked my readers to share with me an example of an activity that draws their family closer together, as part of a way to celebrate National Stepfamily Day. As a Stepfamily Coach and a stepmom, I believe it’s imperative to find activities stepfamilies can do together in a new and fun way. Stepfamilies don’t have the long family history that nuclear families have.

Many of you sent really great ideas and I wanted to thank you for those. Jennifer Slodysky submitted “A Day of Letterboxing”, the winning entry which described her family’s participation in the sport of letterboxing. Jennifer wrote that this activity was especially great for them because considering the wide range in age between her stepsons and her daughter, this was an activity they could all do and focus on what they all enjoyed doing. She was able to participate in something that the boys didn't do with their mom.

I had never hear of letterboxing and here is what I found out: According to Randy Hall of Letterboxing.org, letterboxing is a combination of activities—art, orienteering, outdoor exploration, sleuthing, treasure hunting, and team work--that appeal to a wide range of ages. Letterboxers create clues and hide letterboxes in interesting locations for others to find. Each letterbox contains a rubber stamp—to mark the finder’s logbook—and a letterbox logbook—to record the stamps of those who have discovered the letterbox. Searchers begin by selecting or creating a stamp that uniquely represents them. This stamp is used to sign the logbooks found in each letterbox at the end of successful hunts and can be used again and again. Letterboxing requires good observation and puzzle-solving skills. While orienteering equipment maybe helpful to solve some clues, many are written for the less experienced letterboxer and some are kid-friendly. More information about letterboxing and clues for finding North American letterboxes can be found at the Letterboxing North America site http://www.letterboxing.org/.

Congratulations to Jennifer who won a $50 gift card for Domino’s Pizza and to all who have found an activity the whole family can enjoy together.