5 Tips To Help Young Children Develop Strong Writing Skills

Writing is important not only for students but also for professionals from various areas. When kids go to school, they need to write countless essays. In college or university, they deal with more complex academic papers. At some point, they need to write coursework, term papers, or dissertations. When they become a part of the workforce, they may need to write business plans, resumes, presentations, and all kinds of documentation.

Even though most kids don’t like writing at school, the truth is that writing is a crucial skill that we use in our daily lives all the time. If you want the writing process to be less intimidating for your kids in the future, the best solution is to help them develop their writing skills as early as possible.

Why Is Writing Important?

IT’S PRACTICAL
When you have to send an email or to fill out a form in your doctor’s office, you need to write. Writing is an integral part of our everyday communication with colleagues and our social media lives. An ability to write clearly and correctly in terms of grammar speaks of your education and can help you sound more professional.

WRITING IS NECESSARY FOR STUDENTS
No matter whether it’s handwriting or writing on a computer, it’s impossible to imagine education without writing. Students need to write various assignments, and they may need to demonstrate their writing skills on exams. Many colleges and universities require applicants to submit essays, and writing tasks become more and more complex as students get older.

IT’S AN IMPORTANT PART OF COMMUNICATION
Writing emails and messages on social media is an important part of everyone’s communication with friends, colleagues, and relatives. Well-developed writing skills can help an individual to communicate their thoughts clearly, in an easy to understand way.

WRITING CAN FORM AN IMPORTANT PART OF MANY CAREERS
Many employees from different areas need to write on a daily basis. For instance, writing skills are very important for administrators, researchers, and reporters. When people apply for jobs, they also need to submit resumes and letters of application. In this case, their writing skills have a direct impact on their image as a candidate.

How to Help Kids Develop Good Writing Skills

ENCOURAGE READING
Reading and writing are two interconnected skills. Many talented writers read a lot. Reading can help your child expand their vocabulary and learn various writing approaches that they can use in the future. When children meet new words and see how they are used in practice, they can use these words in their own writing, being able to express their ideas more precisely.

“Reading also enables kids to learn different styles of writing and different sentence structures,” explains Lewis Caroll, writing coach and professional essay writer at Paper Help. “Obviously, reading can also be a source of knowledge and inspiration so it can help children make their writing more interesting and engaging.”

TEACH KIDS TO WORK WITH DRAFTS
Writing is a process that involves different stages. Before you start to write something, you need to figure out what you’re going to write about and what structure your text will have. It’s important to teach your kids that comprehensive and well-written text doesn’t come out of nowhere.

Before they create a good piece, they may need to write several drafts, edit, and change them. When writing on a computer, kids can see the history of changes so the editing process is easy. They can edit their drafts in different ways and choose the best phrasing and structure.


HELP THEM GET STARTED
Even seasoned writers sometimes spend a lot of time staring at a blank page. Sometimes, the only thing that stops your kids from writing a good piece may be that they simply don’t know where to start. In this case, there’s nothing wrong with helping them. For instance, you can help their creative juices flow by asking a thought-provoking question.

You may also brainstorm with them so that they can choose ideas that they would like to consider in more detail. Your kids may also know exactly what they want to write about but they may need some help with the technical side of this task. You can help them write a few first sentences. You can also encourage them to practice free-writing, which is a very effective tactic.


ENCOURAGE FREE-WRITING
Writing is not only a useful skill when it comes to studying but it’s also a great tool for self-expression. It enables children to train their creativity and to express their personalities. Free-writing is a great exercise that not only stimulates creativity but also enables kids to get used to the writing process and to feel more confident.

A great way to practice free-writing is to keep a diary. The more kids write, the better their writing becomes. We recommend that you always encourage your kids to write as often as they can because any practice can help them train their writing skills.


SUGGEST MEMORIZING AND COPYING
Memorizing and copying prose or poems is a great practice that can help children practice writing and improve their focus. Of course, it’s important to teach your kids that their writing should be original. However, rewriting works of well-known writers can help them expand their vocabulary and use new structures in practice.

It’s always great to see examples of impressive writing and to apply effective writing approaches in practice. As we’ve already mentioned above, any writing practice is good. Besides, writing and reading at the same time can provide more intense training than engaging in these activities separately.

Writing is a skill that’s important not only for students but also for professionals from different areas, as well. Besides, writing is an internal part of our everyday communication. However, developing writing skills is a time-consuming process so it’s important for parents to help their kids.

You can encourage your kid to express their creativity and to practice writing more often. You can also brainstorm with them and teach them to work with drafts. We hope that our tips will give you some ideas on how you can help your kids become better writers.

Rhonda Martinez is a mom of two, blogger and preschool ESL teacher. Rhonda is keen on teaching and using gamification techniques to motivate kids and help them better understand the material taught in class.