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How To Teach Writing To Children
by Melvin Carwin
http://www.readywriting.com

I am a writer. Even before I was paid to write, writing was
a vital part of my life. Words are living things to me, and
puzzles that can be fit together in many ways to get across
whatever meaning I choose to impart.

The single most important thing you can do to foster a love
of writing in a child is read to them. Reading aloud will
stimulate their imagination and attune their ears to rhythm.
If you recite nursery rhymes and read to them often from
works by such eminent wordsmiths as Dr. Seuess, you'll be
making it easy for them to find the natural rhythm of
language when they begin to attempt their own writing.

I didn't consciously set out to raise children who love
writing. Nor, I'm sure did my mother. I simply did the
things that she did when I was growing up, the things that I
enjoyed and loved doing. The games and reading and reciting
that my mother made a natural part of my own childhood were
things that I passed on to my children. These are some of my
best tips for raising children who love writing, or at least
can manage it without pain.

Don't be afraid to babytalk. Baby talk has picked up a bad
rap in recent years, but most child development experts
agree that those silly, high-pitched nonsense words that you
prattle away with are a necessary development stage in
teaching infants and children to hear tone and expression in
words.

How many words are in ...? Challenge your child's
flexibility. Print his name in block letters across the top
of a sheet of paper, then challenge him to make as many
words as he can from the letters. If you have more than one
kid, make it a cooperative effort, or let them compete. Is
his name all used up? Pick a word from the dictionary or the
newspaper. It's all good. Any activity that makes words fun
will make writing more natural.

As they start to speak, correct their grammar. Do it gently
but by all means do it. Simply repeat what they said using
the correct grammar. Writing is easiest when you don't have
to think about the phrasing, and that happens when you have
a natural font of language to work from. By speaking with
proper grammar and encouraging it in your children, you'll
be giving them valuable tools that they'll use without even
thinking about them as they start to write.

The more fun you make words, the more likely your child is
to be comfortable using them. Encourage them to use the
dictionary. Share word origins with them. Make time to hear
their stories and meandering tales. Every bit of it will
encourage them to use words to communicate, which is the
goal of all writing.

Encourage proper grammar. Children will use slang among
their friends, but it's vital that they know proper grammar
and word use. Gently correct their grammar when they speak
to you, and praise them when they correct their own. As
unimportant as it may seem, good grammar is a vital tool in
writing. A person who can't write with proper grammar will
find themselves locked out of many professions.

Tell silly stories and challenge them to finish them. Make a
game of telling silly stories. On the bus, ask them why they
think the girl is wearing two different socks. Who knows?
Maybe the green monster that lives under her bed really did
eat the other red sock.

Encouraging a love of writing and imparting the skills
needed to be a good writer isn't a difficult thing to do.
Just communicate your own love of the written and spoken
word and you'll find that your children follow suit.

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