Imagine yourself as a parent. (Or, you’re already a parent doing your best to raise an intelligent and successful person.) Do you understand the role writing plays in a child’s communication, critical- and creative thinking, and analytical skills?
When children start writing essays in school, it’s not because teachers are strict and willing to overload them with tasks. Paper writing is an instrument for developing the above skills. As a responsible parent, you can help your child write better and instill love in writing.
The most evident method is to encourage them to craft short stories on easy topics:
Tell them something like “Write a descriptive essay on my favorite food,” “Tell me about your dog,” “Describe your favorite cartoon hero,” etc. The goal is to help them develop essential writing skills they’ll use in school and college. Those skills are five, so let’s reveal each in detail below.
1. Reading Comprehension
It’s among the most essential skills for writing. Before a child can write creative and original papers, they should be able to read and understand text. When you teach reading to them, children first learn to sound out unfamiliar words, understand the meaning behind them, and then combine those words in sentences and paragraphs.
Reading helps enrich vocabulary, which is essential for a child to start writing. They’ll see the spelling behind words, will understand how to structure sentences (even the simplest ones), and how to build stories.
Cultivate a reading habit.
Introduce your child to the world of reading as early as possible. Not by books alone: Try different reading materials for your youngster to explore writing styles and alternative perspectives. Reading will open their mind, boost creative thinking, and flourish imagination.
2. Genre Knowledge
Genre knowledge means understanding the difference between writing styles and story structures. This essential skill will help children distinguish between paper types and know how to write each for better results.
For example:
A schooler gets an assignment to craft a narrative essay. With genre knowledge in their pocket, they will know what to include: setting, plot, character, conflict, and resolution. If writing an argumentative paper, they’ll understand the need to mention a thesis statement, reasoning, and evidence supported by research.
Practice different types of writing.
Encourage your child to craft different types of stories: descriptions, discussions, explanations, narratives, poetry, you name it! Provide feedback; highlight both strengths and areas for improvement. Thus, you’ll help a child understand the writing process, develop ideas, and better communicate those ideas on paper.
3. Story Planning
To write well, one should master planning and outlining. Writers juggle many ideas and need to organize and structure them to turn that chaos into compelling stories later.
Encourage writing regularly.
Regular writing will help a child craft stories better. As we know, practice makes perfect. When children have writing as a habit, they polish their creativity and ability to structure thoughts, thus expressing them clearly.
How can you maintain that writing habit in your child to learn planning?
- Engage them with creative worksheets
- Propose them to keep a daily journal
- Encourage them to participate in writing prompts to experiment with their writing voice and narrative structures
4. Sentence Construction
One can only write well by knowing how to construct sentences that make sense. It might be challenging for a child to use correct structures and tenses, write complex and complete sentences, or use proper punctuation.
If your youngster struggles with that, there’s no need to wait for the school and teachers to solve this problem. You can also help as a parent.
Focus on vocabulary expansion.
Teach your child basic and practical knowledge, such as the difference between a question and a statement, a subject and a verb, etc. Exercises on expanding a child’s vocabulary also work, as they allow youngsters to express their thoughts in more straightforward sentences.
- Encourage them to read aloud (It retains new vocabulary and improves pronunciation)
- Implement a “Word of the Day” strategy
- Practice vocabulary-building worksheets with your child
- Teach grammar and syntax to them
5. Text Revision
Editing is an integral part of the writing process, and children must understand that when they craft papers, whether in school or outside its borders. They need to know they’ll have to go back through their drafts to fix errors and improve their texts for clarity, logical coherence, and reader engagement.
This skill requires understanding why and how to revise papers for better quality.
Introduce several basic editing strategies to your child.
- “Hamburger” — for planning a paragraph
- “Spider map” — for expanding a topic with supporting details
- Graphic organizers — for visualizing writing ideas
- Editing checklists — for easier revision
Takeaways
Writing skills are essential for cognitive abilities, so the sooner children master them, the better. Parents can help them love writing and craft creative and original papers:
Cultivate a reading habit, encourage a child to write every day and practice different types of writing, and help them expand vocabulary and learn basic grammar rules.
With such support, your child won’t get lost when it comes to writing assignments in school or practicing written communication online.
