my uncle is in jail to and my grandmother wants me to write him a letter but i dont know were to start
Hi there,
When someone goes to prison it can be difficult to know how you feel. It's okay to feel a mixture of emotions such as sadness, relief and anger. Your feelings might make it difficult to know what to say so a good place to start is to think about what your uncle might want from a letter. What do you think he would want to hear about?
When writing to someone in prison it's good to remember that they don't have the freedom to do everyday things that you do. Reading about people they care about and the things they do can be something to look forward to. You could write about all the things you've been doing recently and what it was like. Try to think of your favourite memories of the past few months and write about them.
If you want your uncle to write back to you could ask him questions. Remember that the prison will open your letter and read it before giving it to him and there will be some questions he won’t be able to answer. He might be able to answer general questions about what it's like in prison though and this might help you to come to terms with where he is.
All of this only applies if you want to write to him. If you don't want to, nobody should try and force you. It's okay to say that you don't want to. And you don't have to give any reason why.
Talking about how you feel when thinking about your uncle is really important - Childline can be here to talk about this with you. Our counsellors are available to talk to at any time.
Thanks for sending me this letter, take care.
Sam
You can talk privately to a counsellor online or call 0800 1111 for free.
You can ask me about anything you want, there's nothing too big or small. I read every single letter but I can only answer a few each week. My replies are published here on my page.
