One of the most precious memories from my childhood is sitting down with my mom at the kitchen table, sipping tea with honey from our matching mugs and talking about life.
That’s right, we talked about life ever since I could remember. We would discuss events and ideas, share our opinions, and dream about what will happen in the future. I firmly believe that these conversations made a lasting impact on how I see the world and other people.
Looking back, my biggest wish is that we recorded even small bits of our conversations. I wish we wrote things down together so that I could savor reading our conversations now. When my son gets older, I plan on journaling with him so that we can create these memory capsules. I am sure that both him and I would enjoy re-reading our “talks” many years later.
Journaling together with your child could be transformative for your relationship. There are three reasons why you should consider journaling together:
Connecting with your child becomes a regular habit.
Now let’s face it, we all have a million things going on any given day. Connecting with your child is not an urgent activity and could be pushed aside by more urgent but less important things. If you, however, decide to keep a regular journal together, it becomes a habit. You both know this is what you do together every Sunday, for example.
It encourages meaningful discussions about life and the world.
If you want to know what’s going on in your child’s head, you need to discuss things beyond, “How was school today?” When you journal together, you can write about things like: “What is my biggest dream?” and “What was my recent mistake and what have I learned from it?” These are important conversational questions that are not typically asked at the dinner table.
It creates a special bond that would allow for difficult conversations later when they are older.
The regular practice of discussing life events with my mom created a solid channel of communication between us. I never hesitated telling her things because I knew how she would react. When you build this foundation between you and your child, they would be much more likely to come to speak to you when things go awry.
So how do you get your child to journal with you when they are already overwhelmed with homework? Journaling should be a fun activity rather than a writing exercise. It should be something your child would look forward to each week. For example, write about your trips together, print photos, cut them out, and paste them into journals.
Another suggestion is to create space to draw in your journals. This could be especially good for kids who may not have a mastery of words to describe their thoughts and feelings yet. You can write down what they say and let them draw.
Take on journaling together with your child during this upcoming summer break. Make it fun for them and you! I bet you will thank yourself later.
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