Everyday writing... encouraging reluctant writers.

Some children are very reluctant to write.  They may look at a blank piece of paper and have trouble transferring their ideas from their head to the page.  Others may look at the piece of paper and are overwhelmed... there is the letter forming to consider, the content, the effort on the hand, the placement of the letters, the spacing, the speed that the work needs to be done ... etc.  With that list it is incredible that most of us pull through with writing.

It may be that your child is working on one or a number of things such as pencil grasp, fine motor skills, letter formation, letter size or story creation ideas.  Regardless, I try to encourage all the children I see for "handwriting" issues to incorporate it into their daily life.  As will all skills, handwriting takes practise but no one wants to sit and write hundreds of "lines" with no purpose. Giving your child some purpose with their writing may help motivate them. 

Here are a few ways to encourage your reluctant writer with everyday writing... 

#1: Card writing- Birthday cards, thank you cards, mother's day, father's day, Christmas cards, Valentine's Day... start with your encouraging your child to write their name and then the recipients name.  Anything else is bonus.

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#2: Shopping list - Keep a list on the fridge. Your child can add to the list through the week.  Start with one item at a time. Don't worry about spelling! 

You could reward your child at the end of the week with something they would like to add to the shopping list.

Alternatively, you could ask different siblings to be the writer for the day.

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#3: Journal writing - Keep a journal of special events {eg, holiday journal}. Provide simple writing prompts such as the date, What I did, What I ate, My favourite thing... Encourage drawing and recording how they felt during the special event.  They could also record who was with them and what the weather was like.

Collect tokens, tickets, postcards, stickers to add to the page.  

Help younger kids to "write" whilst they tell you what to write.

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#4: Penpal - Kids love receiving mail {that is, real mail delivered by a postman in a letterbox rather than something electronic}.  

If you can, organise for your child to have a penpal.  It may be cousin, a friend that you don't see very often, a grandparent or in our case the daughter of a friend of mine living in a different country.  Miss 7 loves writing and receiving her letters. 

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Is your child a reluctant writer?  Writing with a purpose can be very motivating.  Try one of these suggestions this week!