Developing Your Child's Appreciation of Writing as an Art Form

So much can be accomplished through the art of writing. Unfortunately, most people look at writing as drudgery forced upon them from critical teachers throughout their educational experience. As a parent, you might even look at writing as a chore to be avoided. However, people who write outside of assigned tasks will argue that writing is one of the most amazing loves that you can instill in your children.

The first step in developing an appreciation for writing in your child is making reading a top priority in your child's life. It does not matter that your child can't understand the words or concepts right away. Just make reading an exciting time. Talk about how the author created the story out of pure imagination. Have your child tell stories made from pure imagination to demonstrate that they can write stories one day too!

Writing is an art form. Basically, that means that there are skills you use to develop within your writing, but, once those basic skills are mastered, it's a free for all. If you want your child to love writing, then you need to give him the ability to write whatever he wants without fear of being criticized. Consider fun writing assignments to be similar to handing his a big box of crayons and a ream of paper, and let the creativity unfold!

Writer's block is a problem for the most proficient of writers. To help your child learn to develop her own way of coming up with writing ideas, get her started by offering her suggestions. Depending on your child's age and skill level, you can suggest things that will be a step behind where they are, at level ideas, and things that will stretch them just a touch. Some ideas are:

• Write a page of your favorite letters. Decorate them with your favorite colors.

• When you think of the park, what words do you think of?

• Look at this picture. (Give a picture of a person expressing a strong emotion.) What do you think this person is feeling? Can you imagine reasons why they might be feeling that way?

• If you were the parent, write about what you would do with the family next Saturday.

• (Give child a list of nouns.) Find some adjectives to describe these words so that they come alive.

No matter what your child writes, pay close attention to his description of it and make sure you find things to praise about it. NEVER make your child feel bad about what he wrote. If it's disturbing, then take it as an opportunity to talk it out.

Try to get exceptional work published. If your child sees her creative writing published in a magazine, newspaper, or newsletter, it will inspire her to write more.

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