Keeping a journal is one of the best ways to express ideas, thoughts, emotions and other feelings as they come. For children especially, a journal can be a great way to self-express as they grow. Sadly, many children stare at their journals everyday with less to report home about which makes them more or less demotivated. Luckily, if you’re in the custody of such a child, the following are some of the things you can do to rejuvenate and enthuse them to become better journal writers.
Have a trademark writing style
Everyone has his or her own distinctive writing style and uniqueness. You need to look at how unique your style is. Are you a picture or poetry person? Overall, write free, break all the rules and if you must use other people’s work, make it unique by checking with plagiarism software PlagTracker. It’s always a good practice to keep your written work unique, even in a personal journal.
Kill the inner critic
A journal is a person account and therefore, how you choose to write it is nobody’s business. You need to consider everything you write as your own to ensure that the spirit to write grows.
Don’t be afraid to break the rules
One of the negative limiting factors on writing personal journals in children is fear to make mistakes; this is quite unfortunate. Children should know that writing a personal journal is not an English exam. They are free to disobey as many grammar rules as they want, so long as they make sense to them as authors.
Express yourself
The personal journal is about you and no one else. This means that if you want to sound more authentic, you need to invest more time in composing yourself and getting the right flow to express yourself. Sometimes, you may feel one word or many. Simply write what you feel because that’s your journal at the end of the day.
Choose a special place to write
Even with journals, writing everywhere is not recommended. Select a place where you’re happy, feel safe and inspired to lose yourself in what you feel.
Keep it exciting
Journal writing is supposed to be fun, creative and easy. Try as much as you can to focus your energies on writing in diversity. The writing could include using photos, stickers, caricatures and other elements that make the journal a personal statement. More color, fun and excitement added to the journal writing can make a whole lot of difference.
Take it easy
Whenever you can, try make the journal-writing look like an easy task, less of a duty or obligation. When it starts to feel this way, be sure to scale down on the work by stepping aside until you feel your passion flowing back to you.as a general rule, aim to write your journal when things seem to be flowing a bit more naturally.
Overall, you need to know that although the above rules are ideal for good journal writing, you’re free to create your own personal style and stick with it. This also expands to include children, encourage them with these, but give them room to develop their own distinct style.
Sandra Miller is edtech writer from Brooklyn, always uses an editing service to make her writing perfect!
Earnest Parenting: help for parents who want their kids to be comfortable writing.
These are great tips! Although my daughter isn’t old enough to journal yet, it is something that I would like for her to do 🙂 The bonus is that these are great tips for an adult too!