PetitMailforKids

“When we’re old and grey, we won’t wax poetic on the things we had – but rather on what we did in the spaces between them” – The Joy of Less

I first created Petit Mail when my daughter NJ was two and a half and loved walking with me to our community mailbox. As a lover of snail mail, I started looking for the “perfect” subscription for her to enjoy – something bright and fun, with beautiful illustrations, a short story, a way for me to connect and engage with her. Most importantly, I wanted something affordable, without large shipping fees. I couldn’t find quite the right thing, and so….I started the work to bring my idea to life!

Over the past few years I’ve worked hard to create a kids subscription that I believe is affordable and accessible to everyone. When you order a Petit Mail story postcard subscription, I still get excited and do a little dance of joy. Each and every time.

Curl up in a chair, and let me tell you my story.

I grew up in a home where creativity flourished and spent many hours of my childhood drawing, painting, sculpting and creating. I spent weekends in the woods at our family cabin, running through ferns and using my imagination to the fullest.

Academics were always important in our house too, so I pursued my career and stumbled upon my wonderful full-time job at a local non-profit (where I still work today). My creative life was always there, on the side – I took art classes at night and on weekends – I made things for our home, for myself, for friends. That imagination from my childhood was (and still is) an important lifeline for me.

Fast forward a few years, and I’m a mom to a beautiful daughter AND a son and I feel like I’m always searching for that SPACE.

You know the one I’m talking about?

That space between everyone saying “enjoy them while they’re little, it will be gone in the blink of an eye” and me needing 5 minutes of peace behind a closed door without a child saying “Mom, mom…..mom…come here! I need you!”

The beautiful, magical, unicorn (I’m not sure it even really exists) space.

So I simplify, I minimize. I let go. I remind myself to put down my technology. I turn off the screens. I take a deep breath and I work a little everyday to find those quality spaces where I look into my children’s eyes, and they look into mine.

and we talk, and we listen.
we laugh. we play peekaboo 25 times and I don’t scroll through my Instagram feed.
I don’t reach for my phone to take a picture of it (ok, well sometimes I do).
we go on nature walks in our neighbourhood or we work on art projects of our own.

and I’m not ever perfect, and neither are you.
I never feel like I’m spending “enough” time with them but I do firmly believe that quality > quantity.

Petit Mail’s bright coloured envelope and a real piece of mail, reminds us of a simpler time.
The excitement of finding something with our name written on it.
A chance to read together.
To be inspired by new ideas.
To create, to explore, to learn.
To connect.

A few other things

When I’m not doing all of the above things (which take up 98% of my time!) you can find me doing all of the boring (and BEST!) things in life. Sipping a hot mug of tea, with my nose stuck in a book (don’t talk to me while I’m reading, I won’t respond), in downward dog, at coffee with a dear friend (yes, I drink coffee AND tea), planning our family’s next great travel adventure/planning anything and everything, and occasionally (still) making something creative.

My home is Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada (aka “the edge of the world)