Welcome to the 30 Days of Summer – Go-To Guide for Moms!
Day Twenty
Have you taken the time to share with your kids how creative free writing and journaling can be fun? Often times this is an activity that is done in the classroom during the school year. I can recall my kids having “open journaling time” at the start of each day during several years of their elementary school.
I thought the idea was great and gave children at different writing levels the opportunity to express themselves in their own way. The writing wasn’t necessarily graded, but was just examined to make sure the child was doing the writing. It was a great way to encourage more writing and gave children the space to explore with their writing.
During the summer, writing and journaling can help develop a love for writing and can even help kids who struggle with writing learn to enjoy it. Why not encourage creative writing and journaling in your home for your kids? Here are some tips to help get things started.
Grab a Special Book
Kids love having a nice book with a cover in their favorite color. It gives them a sense of privacy, self-worth, and identification. Why not take a trip to the store and allow your kids to pick a notebook/journal for them to use. If they have the chance to participate in the process, they will likely be more excited to ‘fully’ participate!
Pick a Topic
One of the things that I did to get the juices flowing, especially with a reluctant writer, was to give them a topic to write about. They could either, write on whatever they wanted or if they gave me the “I don’t know what to write about” line, then I told them to write about _______. Anything from their favorite book to favorite food, vacation idea or person they would like to meet one day.
Private Journaling
If your child would like to use this as more of a journal and have a place to express their own private feelings, then come up with an agreement that it will be private and you won’t be looking at it. For a child, a journal is a great vehicle where they can express their thoughts, ideas and feelings without criticism and negative outcomes. If you feel as a parent there are things to be concerned with in regard to your child, I will say that a private journal may contain information that may be helpful for you, thus the idea of it being private is no longer doable.
Improved Writing
Writing and language are directly related. By using a journal, they not only improve their speech, but their reading as well. They are using their creativity without having to worry about being graded. It’s their journal to write whatever they choose, and this is a fun way for them to create something that is theirs alone.
Expectations
If you are like me, I always had one child who fought the system. One summer in particular it was critical that he spent more time writing, this was an area he struggled with. Homework in our house during the school year was a nightmare! We had to set up the expectation that there would be no “fun” until the writing part of his tasks for the day was completed. He was given the topic and had to write at leasts 3 paragraphs about it. After a few weeks of trying to fight the system, he actually began writing on his own, about his own topics and we saw improvement in his writing!
Fun Memory Maker
Writing/journaling as a fun summer idea for kids should be reinforced. While on summer vacation, writing in a journal about their trip to the beach, or the museum they visited, or family trips is one way in which they can utilize the book and continue their writing skills. Imagine your child keeping these journals and looking back in 10 or 20 years to what they had written – I would have loved to have this type of memory!
Perhaps you have been keeping a journal. Share some of your stories with your kids, and in this way they too will want to begin their own type of journal and add as an activity every summer. Who knows, there may be a potential writer in your family.
How can you encourage your child to journal?
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