I believe that journaling is so important to do with your child because of the values and skills that it installs in your child. Journaling in and of itself can help our children in so very many ways.
Journaling can help teach children it’s okay to express themselves! They may have had someone picking on them the day before at school and not feeling so great about themselves about it. Opposite of that, they may be feeling wonderful because they put a stop to someone bullying the new kid at school!
They may not really want to tell you about either situation, however, if they are writing in their journal that perhaps has some prompts so that they are not staring at a blank page, this could certainly help. I will never forget the time that a teacher, after hearing that my grandmother had passed away, handed my son a stack of paper and a pencil, and said I know your grandmother just passed away. Here is some paper so you can write about it.
I guarantee you that my second grader had no clue what so ever to write about! He was sad that his grandmother passed away and he was given a stack of blank paper and told to write! Of course this came out much later and probably had a lot to do with why he didn’t used to like to write.
But what if we change this scenario around?
What if our daughter saw us writing in a very pretty journal, and just happened to have a matching one for her? What if this journal was designed by a mom that has problems getting her child to write, to the extent that they wind up in the principles office on a weekly basis about him refusing to write (very true story!)? What if this mom cared enough to start including prompts that are designed at you Also getting to know your child better?
But, unpopularmom, where does this wonderful journal exisit? Right here, of course!
I hope you enjoy this journal! Please feel free to let me know if any changes you might want to see, and how it could be improved! I welcome any constructive, helpful ideas!