Your Children and the Importance of Writing

My son is currently sixteen. He still writes off and on. He has written short stories over the years and he has recently started writing his own music and lyrics. I am so very proud of him.

My boyfriends' two young girls were home schooled up until this last school year. I noticed that both his daughters, Emily and Alia, were very interested in my writing. They found it fascinating that I wrote, had published a book, and consistently wrote online. They would always sit by me, as I worked on my laptop. I would usually be wrapping something up when they arrived. I only get to see them about once a week during the school years, so I do not waste what little time I have with them working on my projects.

One day I simply asked them, "Do you want to write a story?" You would have thought that I had offered up the sun and the moon to them. They were both extremely excited.

Alia was first. We sat by ourselves on the front porch and she told her story. It wasn't very long, and I had to ask her a lot of questions to get the short little story out of her, but she had just turned four when we did hers. We are still working on Emily's. Her story is much more complex. We actually made up all of the characters and personalities, made an outline for the story, and even designed a cover for it. We will be finishing her story up when she gets out of school. We plan to upload and publish it to Lulu so that she can have a hard-copy of it once it's done. We will do the same for Alia when she is a little older.

First of all you must realize that when a child is younger they may not be writing the stories. They may be telling the stories while you write for them and help coach them through the story process by asking them questions.

When a child is old enough to start writing their own stories they will still need help in the creative to paper process so they do not get frustrated. Getting complex thoughts down on paper can be frustrating, so help from Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, or even the babysitter will be key in their early success.

Usually, the undivided attention alone is well worth it for young children. That doesn't mean that you cannot add to the excitement. After it's all said and done type their work up and publish it online with some nice photos, their name, and a little copyright symbol. There are many places that this can be done for free, such as right here on Squidoo.

Yes. You can publish their stories here on Squidoo!

I look back to my early school years with a sense of wonder and gratitude. I can remember my fourth grade teacher, Mr. Campbell, working with me on my spelling. Up until the fourth grade nothing really clicked for me. I can remember him sitting me down and telling me how much more I was capable of than what I was giving him. He told me that if I could improve my reading and writing to above satisfactory that I would get to go to his house -with other above satisfactory children- for a day of fun and ice-cream at the end of the school year. Let me tell you, I didn't want to let him down, nor did I want miss that day of fun and ice-cream with the other smart kids.

The following year, fifth grade, I would go on to win a writing contest that allowed me to attend the Young Authors Conference. From that point on I read like a crazy person. When I went into junior high I was reading at college grade level and I took only Advanced Placement English courses once they became available.

Looking back on those years, I am so unbelievably grateful that Mr. Campbell told me what I was capable of and expected it from me.

Above photo is of me and my sister, Angie, in 1977.