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Teaching your children to learn to love writing is an important skill that they will use throughout their whole life.  Throughout their school years they will probably end up writing hundreds of papers whether they be essays, reports or fictional stories. 

One way that you can help your children learn this important skill is to start when they are very young.  Read to your child before he can talk.  This will help him learn to love books and stories.  When your child is old enough to start telling stories on his own, encourage him to use his imagination and tell you stories.  Writing or typing up his stories will help you preserve the memories and help him feel like what he says is important and worthwhile.

This is something that my mother did when we were young.  Going back and reading the stories that I wrote when I was four or five, I can’t help but smile.

THE WOLF

Once upon a time there was a wolf living in the woods. And then he was trying to look for food or else he would eat up people. And then he went out to the woods finding food. And then he was looking for real food that doggies eat. And then the doggies were looking for their food. And then he was looking for his kind of food. And then he was going to look for people to eat up them. And then he went for lots of food of his. And then he went looking for a computer. That's another wolf cause he wanted to look for another wolf. And then he went looking for dogs because his food was there, right by wolfs. And then that's all.

By Bonnie McKnight, Age 3 1/2

A few years later I started writing a series about a mother cat and her 30 children.  Here is one of those stories:

THE MOTHER CAT AND HER 30 CHILDREN

Once upon a time there was a mother cat and her 30 children. One day she took her children to the store. They wanted to buy lots of hats and lots of bracelets and pretty stuff, but the boys didn't like the pretty hats and the pretty necklaces. So they paid for their stuff that they got and they went home. And one the way home they saw a grandfather kitty and he was very old and he didn't have a place to stay, but Mother didn't know him. He was a stranger. So she found a place for him that he could stay. But he really wasn't old, he was a father and when the mother cat and her 30 children went back home he sneaked out of the house that she had found for him and went to his real house. And the mother's children were named: Sunbeam, Special, Star, Katie, Christina, Chrissy, Tommy, Timmy, Angel, Nan, Jim, Amy, Kelli, Candy, Rachel, Sarah, Sally, Jimmy, Bitsy, Brian, Jessie, Amanda, Krystal, Julie, Jenny, Ginny, Joey, Mindy, Caitlin, Jamie.

And when they got home they went to bed in their 30 beds. And they sleep-ed and sleep-ed and sleep-ed till morning. And when it was morning time they went to the store. Those 30 cats went to the store. When they were at the store, they bought pretty stuff and the boys didn't like pretty stuff, so they didn't look at it. They picked out the stuff that they liked.

And the 30 cats went trottling home and on the way as usual they saw an old man, and you know that that was really that man that wasn't old. So she helped him find a place again, and when she was gone, he sneaked out and went to his real house, and one of the kitties saw that. Their name was Katie. Katie saw that the man wasn't old because he was running to his house. So, Katie, she told her mother. And her mother said, "Well, I won't help that old man again." So she didn't.

So in the night the kitty sleep-ed and sleep-ed and sleep-ed until morning came again. And they went to the store as usual and bought some pretty stuff but the boys didn't like the pretty stuff so they didn't look at it. They looked at the stuff that they liked. And they paid for all of that.

And they went home, and as usual again they saw the old man, but this time when the old man said he needed a place to stay, their mother cat just walked past him and didn't hear him. But he said, "Please I need one, a house." But the mother cat just ignored him and just walked along and she just walked until she got home. But that man, he wasn't old, he just stomped his foot and ran away.

And when they got home, they had a big party because they got rid of that old man, and so they slept and slept that night and in the morning time, instead of going to the store, they went to the park. And so they played on the swings, and that old man was there watching them. He said he needed a place to stay. But the mother cat just ignored him and just walked away. when they got home they played on the swings and the slide and the Mother cat sent the 30 children back to bed. The end.

By Bonnie McKnight, Age 7

***

Your Children’s stories would make great Christmas presents for grandparents.  Here is a story that I wrote for my dad on Father’s Day:

THE FATHER CAT AND THE 30 CHILDREN ON FATHER'S DAY

Once upon a time there was a father cat and the 30 children, and it was Father's Day. The children got ready for Father's Day. They put on their father's shirts and they went outside and they went to the Father's Day parade. The old man who was the robber who was the thief was in the parade, too. And he had his Father's Day shirt on, too, and his Father's Day mask. He was walking and he couldn't see because the mask was on, and he bumped into somebody. And he had eggs in his pocket, and he gave them to everybody in the parade because there was lots of eggs. And he decorated them up. And he tasted every single one of them, and they were rotten, so he gave them all away.

The father cat and the 30 children didn't want an egg, so they got a lollipop instead. They went home and they got their clothes off, and they put some other clothes on. They made presents for their dad, and they made cards for their dad and they made presents for their grandpa and they made cards for their grandpa. Their grandpa liked their cards and presents. And they made balloons in the cards and they made hearts in the cards and they made fathers in the cards. They gave their grandpa a present, and it was a picture they drew of their grandpa, and the grandpa liked it so much.

For their dad they made cookies, and they wrapped them all up, and their grandpa and their dad liked them so much. And they went to sleep, and they dreamed of next Father's Day, and the next day was Mother's Day. The end.

By Bonnie McKnight, Age 7 1/2

Even thought these may sound like silly stories to most people, they helped me have the desire to start writing and they also helped me develop my imagination.  A few years later, my sisters and I started to write a story.  We had plans for it to get the story published.  We had it all worked out in our mind how it would end and how the story would progress.  This is the first page of that story:

THE PRINCESS AND THE PEASANT

Once there was a peasant girl with straight brown hair and long eyelashes in a calico skirt and a white apron.
"Why do I have to be so plain looking? The princess is so beautiful. I wish I was like her." Rebecca sat gazing into her mirror her most prized possession.
"Oh, I do wish I had curls like her, I look so plain with straight hair."
"Rebecca, come down here I've been calling you for the last five minutes!" her mother scolded.
"Yes mamma, I'm coming," she sighed
"Oh well, I guess I'll never be like her."

Although we never did have a chance to finish the story, it helped us get excited about writing.

Helping your children learn to love writing is a valuable skill.  The best way to teach your children about writing is by doing it yourself.  Children learn so much from the example of their parents.


Note: This information is from my own personal and thoughts and experiences.



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