Ways to encourage your child to write

Writing is intricately linked to critical thinking, helping the child sort out his thoughts and put them on paper. It is a mental process bringing together vocabulary, grammar, and a creative thought process. Young learners cannot simply sit and start writing. They need help to cultivate the art of writing as a hobby. But before we understand how to push your child to cultivate writing as a habit, let us understand why it is important.

Importance of writing skills:

Students require to be good writers to score well in examinations, complete assignments, and write reports. Apart from having its implications for performance in the school curriculum, writing helps to know what a child has learned. Writing is extremely practical and is essentially used almost everywhere, from doctors’ prescriptions to bond papers. Hence the ability to write clearly is essential. Not only is it a necessary part of a student’s life, but while in a job, writing decides how tactfully and efficiently you can pass on information. It is an important medium to communicate while simultaneously keeping a record of the information passed. In fact, a lot many people also find writing or journaling quite therapeutic. Read further to know how to build it as a hobby in your child.

Cultivating writing as a hobby in your child:

Practice is the best way to improvise on anything, including better English writing. The involvement of parents in the teaching process can make a huge difference. Here are a few simple steps to help your child write better.

1) Becoming a reader:

Encourage your child to read for certain dedicated hours. An avid reader always becomes a better writer. Reading gives the child a more profound understanding, clarity, and coherence, giving better flow to communicate effectively. Reading exposes the person to newer vocabulary and allows them to understand the usage of words with contextual meanings, and learn numerous sentence structures.

2) Helping them to start:

Any task, easy or arduous, needs to be started once, and a blank page can be very intimidating. You might want to help them start by giving them characters to make a story of, ask them a thought-provoking question, or help them get the first few words. You could also help them make a list of topics or ideas and create an outline of the topic to teach them how to make a rough draft. The draft can then be always revisited and revised. Starting to write and continuing it matters more than being able to write flawlessly in the first go. The stigma associated with writing perfectly-without any errors could be a huge hindrance. Always encourage free writing. Let the flow of ideas be natural.

3) Creating and revising drafts:

All the ideas that come to your mind might not be good enough to put them directly on paper. Also, randomly jotting down points might not bring coherence in writing. Hence, making a draft becomes very important. It boosts brainstorming and teaches the overall process to create a perfect write up. Using word processors for draft also makes it more efficient to rephrase and reorganize longer pieces.

4) Using grammar checks:

We have known well that grammar gives us the ability to question. An article or a story with wrong words and phrasal usage, or incorrect grammar does not allow us to communicate efficiently and effectively. Incorrect grammar ruins the essence of writing. Using technology to check spelling and grammar mistakes can come in very handy. They also come with auto-suggestions, giving an idea about how it could be written in a better manner.

5) Involvement outside school:

Although school is a place where most of the learning is done, a regular follow up can encourage children to perform better continuously. At times, being able to complete the first draft could also become difficult and can turn into an arduous task. Boosting their confidence, suggesting optimized phrasing, pinpointing, or helping them put their thoughts into words through conversation becomes really important. 

6) Incentivizing on efforts of writing:

Encouragement goes a long way. Appreciating the efforts of your child makes them willing to write better. Writing is not just an academic skill but an avenue for self-expression fostering positive associations. You could also turn it into a fun activity rather than a task to learn and compete. The feeling of accomplishment could help turn it into a hobby. Maintaining a journal and writing about the day could be celebrated at the end of the week. 

7) Making it fun:

Any routine, mundane task could be converted into a fun activity. Writing is no exception to it. Find out various activities or play games with them. Memorizing and rewriting favorite poems, quotes, or stories could serve the purpose right. You could also encourage them to make a scrapbook and stick photos of their dream destinations and incidences and eventually describe them. 

Some Key Takeaways

The above mentioned strategies shall help your child write better, improve muscle memory, improve their spellings, and boost their academic performance. Connect with Online Tutoring Services for a detailed guidance to help your child improve his/her writing skills. We have expert tutors to help you out with a customized strategy taking into account your strengths and weaknesses.