Let me share something I’ve noticed about children and writing that many parents don’t realize until they’re handed a stack of homework. Your child can be bright, curious, and have plenty of interesting thoughts to share but still sit down and stare at an empty page for twenty minutes not knowing where to begin. Your child may not struggle with writing because they can’t. Sometimes they just haven’t learned how.
I’ve seen frustrated kids crumple up paper after paper when their parents ask, “Just write something.” Kids don’t know what “something” is supposed to look like. Writing is a combination of skills that need to come together. Your child has to think of something to say, choose words to describe what they’re thinking, organize their thoughts into something coherent, form complete sentences, remember how to spell words, use punctuation, and sometimes they even have to worry about whether or not the teacher is going to like it. That’s a lot for a young brain to manage.
Fortunately, you don’t have to spend all your free time turning your living room into a classroom just to help your child learn how to write better. You can create opportunities for your child to write as a natural part of everyday life. Writing can be fun, manageable, and educational without overwhelming you or your child. This school period, don’t waste your energy trying to get your child to write perfectly.
Instead, help your child learn how to become comfortable with writing, clearly express their ideas, and develop the confidence to improve.
The tips below will teach you exactly how…
10 Ways to Teach Your Kids to Write Better This School Period
1. Make Writing Part of Your Child’s Everyday Life
Parents make the mistake of allowing writing to only occur when there is an assignment that needs completing. School includes writing as a regular activity, so when kids only see writing in the context of school it can become stressful. Make an effort to encourage your child to write in other situations.
Have your child help you create a grocery list, write a short note to a relative, craft a birthday message, label their toys, keep a journal, or write down ingredients for a recipe. When your child does complete these small writing tasks, remind them that writing can be used by everyone, not just teachers.
Your child should also see you writing too. Young kids observe the actions of adults. If they watch you write grocery lists, send messages, plan your day, write notes, or keep records, they begin to understand that writing is simply a normal part of life. Writing has a purpose; it’s not something to only worry about at school.
Read also: How to Teach Your Kids to Be Respectful in Everyday Life
2. Let Your Child Write About Things They Actually Enjoy
Does your child groan every time they see a blank piece of paper? If your child hates writing, they may not hate writing itself. Your child may just hate being told what to write.
Think about being asked to fill an entire page on a subject you have no interest in just because you’re practicing how to write. Not only is writing challenging, but you now have to learn how to organize what you want to say.
Listen to your child and take note of what naturally interests them. Do they love animals? Football? Superheroes? Drawing? Space? Cooking? Cars? Music? Games? Nature? Funny stories? Whatever your child enjoys, use it to encourage your child to write.
Let your child write about their favorite animal, explain how to play a game, create their own superhero, write about their dream holiday, or tell a made up story about their favorite character going on an adventure.
Interest gives kids something to write about. Once they know what they want to write, you can slowly guide them through developing better writing.
Use Their Interests As a Bridge
You are not replacing educational writing with entertainment. You are simply using topics your child will enjoy as a way to ease into writing.
When your child loves to write about football players, they may not like writing about history. But if they wrote six full sentences about their favorite football player, they may be willing to write six sentences about something in history.
Writing about what they enjoy also helps you discover what they already know. Kids love to talk about their favorite things. Next time your child starts explaining everything they know about their favorite subject, you can say, “Wow, you sure know a lot about that. Now, how can we write about it?”
Writing finally becomes useful to your child.
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3. Read With Your Child Regularly
Reading and writing go hand in hand. When kids read well written stories, explanations, or examples, they begin to recognize how writers structure their work. They start to see how sentences are formed, vocabulary is used, paragraphs are developed, topic sentences introduce ideas, transitions are used, and so much more.
This doesn’t mean you should sit next to your child and analyze every line of text they read. Reading should be a normal part of your child’s daily life. Read together, take turns reading aloud, talk about what happened, and ask questions about the book.
If your child likes a certain book, ask them what they liked about it. Did they enjoy the funny parts? Did they learn something new? Were they confused by any of the information? Reading is more than memorizing words on a page. When you ask questions, you are helping your child learn how to comprehend what they’re reading.
After your child finishes reading a story, ask them to tell you what their favorite part was using their own words. You can even ask them what they would do differently if they were one of the characters.
Why?
Because your child is learning that good writing starts with an idea. They shouldn’t have to worry about every detail before they start writing. Kids need time to think, imagine, describe, and express themselves through writing.
Read also: 100 Fun Fall Questions of the Day for Preschool Kids
4. Teach Your Child To Plan Before Writing
When your child is faced with a blank page, they will try and accomplish too many things at once. I want to write something interesting. What should I write about? How do I start? Should I write big letters? How long should this be? What words do I use? What happened next?
By teaching your child to plan before writing, you can help them focus on one topic. Before your child starts their assignment, help them think about the following.
What topic will they write about?
What do they already know about this topic?
What are the important points that should be included?
You can even help your child write some keywords to remember.
Let’s say they need to write about a memorable day. Help them understand that all days have:
★ What happened
★ Where it happened
★ Who was there
★ How they felt
★ Why it was memorable
Children have a better idea of what they need to write when you show them an outline to follow.
Simple Writing Tools
You don’t need to give your child complex writing worksheets or graphic organizers. Young children can write effectively with simple tools. Write keywords on a piece of paper. Make a quick mind map together. Draw boxes and label one beginning, middle, and end.
Older children can benefit from structured writing prompts and outlines, but they still shouldn’t feel like every assignment needs to be planned out. Teach your kids that professional writers don’t always open a new document and start writing sentence one immediately. They plan.
Read also: 63 Inspirational First Day of School Quotes for Students
5. Teach One Writing Skill at a Time
You spend five minutes staring at a blank page and ten minutes reviewing your child’s homework only to find a page full of errors. It’s understandable that you want to correct every mistake.
But try not to.
If you correct every assignment, your child will begin to believe that writing is just a list of things they constantly do wrong. Instead, pick one or two key skills you want to focus on that week. Don’t feel like you have to correct every writing mistake.
Work on complete sentences one day, punctuation the next. Maybe the following week you’ll help them learn better word choices or how to organize their paragraphs.
Give your child something to improve on. Something they can learn. Writing isn’t a skill that most children master overnight. Your child will want to keep trying if they believe they’re actually getting better.
6. Help Your Child Build a Better Vocabulary
Children struggle to write because they don’t know how to express their ideas. Your child might have a cool idea for a story but keep using the same words over and over again because they’ve only memorized simple words.
Introduce new words slowly throughout your conversations and while reading. Child says, “Look at that big dog.”
You respond, “Yes, that dog is enormous. Enormous is another word for big.”
Now your child has another word they can use to describe something instead of always saying “big”.
Have your child be curious about new words. When you stumble across a word your child doesn’t know while reading, take the time to explain what it means. Ask your child to use it in a sentence of their own.
You’re encouraging your child to use new vocabulary to actually communicate.
7. Give Your Child Opportunities to Write WITHOUT Immediate Correction.
Allow your child to write without examining every word they write. Buy your child a notebook they can use for writing or journaling. Give your child free write days when they can write anything they want without correcting their work.
Tell your child that writing can also be fun. Allow your child to write about their imaginary friends, write down what questions they have about life, write jokes they think are funny, write about things that interest them, write stories they create, or simply keep a space journal.
You’re introducing the concept of creative writing and allowing your child free range to think outside of the box. Creativity cannot blossom when children feel like they will be judged every time they write something new.
Practice Doesn’t Have to Be Edited
There is practice writing and there is editing. Show your child that there are benefits to writing something and coming back to improve it later.
Sometimes your child will write with no purpose of showing you. They’re simply writing to practice or to get their ideas down. Other times your child will write with the intention of improving their work.
Separating these two phases will help your child understand that their writing doesn’t always have to be perfect. Real writers edit their work.
8. Ask Questions That Encourage Your Child To Expand Their Ideas
Kids provide short answers because they feel like the quicker they finish something the better. Teach your child how to add detail by asking questions.
Child writes, “We went to the park and had fun.”
Instead of saying, “Say more.” You could ask…
“What did you do?”
“Who did you go with?”
“What animals did you see?”
“What was the funniest part?”
“How did you feel?”
“What made that day special?”
Providing your child with questions will teach them how to add detail to their writing.
Questions Will Teach Your Child To Ask Questions
You want your child to one day not require you for help. The best way to do this is by teaching them how to edit their own work.
“Can I explain that any better?”
“Did I write enough details?”
“Would someone who wasn’t there understand?”
“Did I use the same word too many times?”
“What is my ending sentence?”
If your child learns how to review their own writing, then they can continue perfecting their skills even when you’re not around to help.
9. Teach Your Child The Value of Editing
Children don’t know any better. Many kids believe that once they finish writing they are finished.
Teach your child that editing allows them to go back and improve their work. Editing is an important part of learning how to write.
Simple Editing Checklists
Have your child read each sentence aloud and check for…
Missing punctuation?
Misspelled words?
Did I repeat the same word too many times?
Does this sentence make sense?
When kids read their work aloud, they are more likely to catch awkward sentences.
You can create a simple editing checklist.
Did my writing make sense?
Did I use correct sentence structure and punctuation?
Are there any spelling errors? Is my writing neat?
By breaking down the editing process into small sections, your child will have an easier time understanding how to edit.
Never Make Your Child Feel Bad While Editing
I cannot stress this enough. Editing is learning from your mistakes, it’s not being told you’re bad at writing.
“Aww, I can’t believe you spelled that word wrong.” Really teaches your child that editing is fun.
Say things like, “You have your ideas down. Now let’s see if we can make this sentence better.”
Do you see the difference in those two examples? Your child will begin to feel like editing is a positive step towards better writing.
10. Be Patient and Let Your Child Improve at Their Own Pace
This is probably the most important tip of all. Don’t rush your child, try forcing giant leaps of progress every week.
Some children will excel while others will take more time. As long as your child is improving from where they started, that’s all that matters.
My son is six years old and is already quite good at writing. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t go over writing tips. Just because he’s good at writing now doesn’t mean he will be able to write perfectly every time he sits down to do an assignment.
Your child is not their sister, their classmates, not your friends’ kids on TV. They will learn at a pace comfortable for them.
Your Child Is Only Trying Their Best
Have you ever gotten frustrated with one of your children? As soon as you realize what you’re doing, you immediately say sorry and explain why you loved them.
Our kids try their best every day, but sometimes they need guidance.
Instead of screaming at your child that they can’t write, try praising them when they do a good job.
“You wrote three paragraphs all by yourself!”
“That’s great! Spelling may come easy to others, but you’ll get there with practice.”
“Wow, you remembered to put punctuation at the end of each sentence.”
Children will try harder when their family praises their efforts. Try not to focus on everything your child is incapable of doing. Our children don’t come with instruction manuals because each child is special and learns in their own way.
Celebrate Small Victories
Small improvements are better than no improvements at all. Did your child use to avoid writing paragraphs? And now your child correctly uses paragraphs on most assignments.
That’s something to be proud of!
Does your child then sit down and write without complaining for the first time? That’s amazing!
Improving at writing is a slow process. And every child will improve at different things.
Just remember your child is becoming a writer with everything they write.
Your Child Is Not YOUR WRITER
When you expect your child to match your standards, you’re setting them up for failure. Let your child write without expecting them to express their thoughts like you would.
The writer your child is becoming will surprise you.
Your child will bring home paperwork that you’d think was below a preschooler’s level. But the more you encourage your child, the more they will learn.
You know your child better than anyone else.
Remind yourself why you wanted to teach your child how to write in the first place. Was it because you wanted your child to do better than you? Or were you hoping your child would learn enough to enjoy writing?
We all want what’s best for our children. But pushing our kids to become something they’re not will only lead to them giving up.
Simple Weekly Writing Routine You Can Do at Home
You don’t need to have a fully structured schedule to improve your child’s writing. Simply using the tips above a few times a week can help.
Pick two or three days that you’ll focus on writing with your child. Maybe you want to correct school homework one day. Another day could be your child’s free writing day.
Another could be a reading day where you read a book together and then have your child write about it.
Every child is different, so choose a length of time that your child can sit and write without listening. Always praise your child when they’ve finished an assignment.
Here’s a quick example of what you can do.
Day 1: Take ten minutes and help your child plan, then write their next assignment.
Day 2: Read a book with your child. After your child finishes reading, have them write about their favorite part.
Day 3: Go over something your child previously wrote. Ask your child what they could change about their writing.
This allows your child to practice planning, writing first drafts, and editing.
Conclusion
Teaching your child how to write doesn’t have to be stressful or difficult. Just be consistent with your methods and most of all, patience.
Allow your child to write about things they enjoy. Take the time to read with your child. Teach them how to plan out what they want to write.
Focus on improving one key skill at a time. Give your child praise when they do something you know they can do by themselves.
Your child needs you to guide them into learning how to write. They are not going to figure it out on their own.
As long as it takes.
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