How To Keep Your Kids Writing During Holiday Break

Writing is like falling in love. Those who really succeed at the endeavor are those who are willing to put their hearts out there and risk being rejected. As you can imagine, this can be a wonderful experience–or it can be agonizing. At least for adults.

For children, falling in love with writing is less dramatic. It’s about learning to tell their stories and committing to paper all of the make-believe worlds they have created. The agonizing part of the process is finding the discipline to keep on writing when they’d rather be doing something else. This is evident during winter break, when the lure of shopping or sledding may be stronger than that of writing.

So, what is the best way to encourage young writers to practice their craft this holiday season? Read on for some practical tips.

Fill your child’s life with stories. Read to your children every day from various types of books. Take turns reading the pages aloud, or read from books that are above their reading level. Tell your own stories at bedtime, and or even when you are on a long car trip or waiting in the doctor’s office. Talk to your children constantly about everything. By keeping them aware of the world around them, as well as other pieces of literature, you’ll expand their imagination (and vocabulary!) and teach them that when they write, the sky is the limit.

Celebrate your child’s writing. When your child brings you a piece of paper with scribbles on it and tells you it’s her name, you’re looking at the child’s earliest form of writing. If you appreciate the work that she does from a young age, she will continue to do it. Celebrate all forms of her writing and she will be filled with the confidence to keep writing–even if it is the holiday season.

Practice what you preach. If you want your child to continue to write over the holidays, make sure he sees you do the same. Any time you write something–whether it’s an email or a grocery list–invite him to help if it is appropriate. Addressing holiday cards is a great opportunity to include children in your writing activities during the holiday season.

Give your child the tools. The tools can be as simple as a writing surface and a container of chalk, pens, and markers. Just make sure she is comfortable and relaxed in her chosen space. Providing a comfortable space for writing helps children and adults alike, as it associates positive feelings with the act of putting pen to paper.

Write with your child. Invite your children to write a story with you. Encourage younger ones to draw illustrations for the story while you write, and then switch jobs. Making writing a way to spend quality time with your children will make them want to do it again and again.

In the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it can be easy to forget about writing. However, by making some simple changes in your holiday routine, you can provide your child with the building blocks necessary to become a lifelong writer and storyteller.

How are you encouraging your children to write this holiday season? Share your tips with us.

To Correct or Not to Correct? How to Instill Strong Language Skills in Children

By Laura Wallis for The Stir by CafeMom

I come from a long line of English teachers on my mother’s side. I remember being corrected on my grammar pretty much as soon as I could speak—for my grandmother, my full grasp of the distinction between “bring” and “take” was as vital as covering my mouth when I yawned. Speaking and writing correctly was just good manners.

These days, though, the school of thought on correcting kids has relaxed somewhat. Even if you have the heart to correct your kids (see our previous post, “Too Cute To Correct”)—it isn’t necessarily the best thing to do. Here are a couple of reasons why and some suggestions on what you might do instead.

Correcting can actually disrupt learning

In the early years of writing, your child is absorbing a lot of information. Learning to tell a story, explaining who the major characters are, adding details and action, and expressing emotions are complicated tasks. I learned this lesson from my children’s kindergarten and first-grade teachers, who would remind us parents to let small things like spelling mistakes go when reviewing our kids’ early writing efforts.

Many teachers think that the creative or “temporary” spellings of words that our kids come up with are perfectly fine placeholders and help to keep kids on task. Focusing on the correct spelling of each word—and even on proper punctuation—can slow down all the heavy-duty thinking that goes into writing.

What to do instead of correct? Take cues from the teacher. What is the focus of the writing assignment? If it’s persuasive writing, look for an instance where your child made a good argument, and praise that. Same if she did a great job of adding descriptive detail in recounting a small moment. If a word from your child’s weekly sight-word spelling list appears, it’s okay to make sure that one is spelled correctly and review it if not. Otherwise, it might be better to let it go.

Correcting can discourage

Although some mistakes can be grating and hard to ignore, interrupting your child’s speech on the regular to say “Jimmy and I, dear, not Jimmy and ME” is a pretty good way to torpedo your kid’s confidence.

A friendlier, and maybe even more effective approach in the long run, is to take a page from the nursery school teachers’ playbook and model correct speech yourself. If your little one says “Daddy drived me to school” you can say “He drove you to school? Did you miss the bus?”

It’s just a nicer way to go, and if she hears it the right way often enough, eventually it’s sure to stick.

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Laura Wallis is a freelance writer and editor specializing in all things family, home, food, and health. She currently lives in New Jersey with her husband, two children, and dog—none of whom take grammar as seriously as they should. She writes for The Stir by CafeMom.

What’s your opinion about academic writing standards?

Academic writing is the epitome of formality and requires generally strict adherence to various style guides—usually a different standard for each subject. Should academic writing and English remain strict and formal, or is it time to relax the rules a bit?

Hot Off the Presses: New changes to the AP Stylebook

The Associated Press Stylebook is a guide for style and usage in written news reporting. Why do writers need a style guide? A style guide helps writers know what the rules are: whether the Oxford comma should be used or not, when to spell out numerals, how to capitalize the names of organizations, etc. Writers may use other style guides in different situations, including the Chicago Manual of Style and the American Medical Association Manual of Style. Each year, the AP Stylebook is updated to include new terms and popular word usages. Here are two interesting updates being made to this year’s Stylebook:

Social media terminology Social media users, rejoice! The terms “favorite” (used as a verb) and “meme” have been added to the AP Stylebook this year.

Global warming In the past, it’s been unclear whether journalists should use the term “global warming” or “climate change.” Now writers don’t have to choose because the AP has declared that the terms can be used interchangeably.

The AP bases its Stylebook updates on common usage of words so that the language writers use is accurate and makes sense to readers. What terminology do you think should be added to or clarified in the AP Stylebook? Share your thoughts in the comments!

7 Fundamental Rules of Poetry

Some people let poetry intimidate them because they get the idea that poetry is all about rhyming, iambic pentameter, and obscure language. While it is true that some of the most beautiful poems are also difficult to understand, poetry in general isn’t that tough. By following some simple guidelines, you can pen verses that are poignant, pure, and easy on the ears.

Employ Imagery

Evoke, don’t emote. You can tell someone “I’m sad” a million times, but the person will have a hard time empathizing if the words don’t have anything to back them up. Imagery, like idioms, takes an abstract idea, such as an emotion, and turns it into something concrete. In the mind and heart of the reader, it goes back to being something abstract. As an exercise, try writing down all the items you can think of that you associate with a certain emotion. You could also take a walk and jot down how the sight of certain things makes you feel. Use those images in your next poem.

Avoid Clichés

Clichés are someone else’s words. Use them, and you steal away your poetry’s true potential. Clichés might be convenient to use, and some are easy to find rhymes for, but the use of clichés will make your readers turn away the moment they stumble upon those trite and tired truisms.

Keep the Reins on Your Rhymes

“No more rhymes now, I mean it!”

“Anybody want a peanut?”

Vizzini from “The Princess Bride” may have been inconceivably mean, but he did have a valid point when he told Fezzik to stop rhyming. That isn’t to say that all rhyming in poetry is bad; it has its time and place, but you should never rhyme simply for the sake of it. Don’t sacrifice the meaning of your poem because you feel obligated to rhyme. The same principles apply to metering. There is something enthralling about a sonnet in perfect iambic pentameter, but only use forms like that if it truly fits what you’re writing about.

Pay Attention to Form

Even poets who write free verse may choose to stick to a certain form. They may try to make all their lines about the same length, or they may vary the length of each line so the poem has a certain shape. You should consider those things, too. Also, think about how you use empty space in a poem. The way you present your work on paper contributes to the poem’s overall message.

Don’t Overdo Anything

Poetic devices like similes, alliteration, repetition, anapest, and onomatopoeia are a great way to add impact to your writing, but overuse can make your poem seem silly. For example, if you want to convey a serious message but start most words in your poem with the letter “b,” that will distract readers from what you want to say.

Bare Yourself

No, poets don’t have to be streakers. However, you should bear in mind that the more honest you are in your poetry, the better. As lovetoknow.com points out, “This is probably the only rule that you should rely on all the time. If you’re not honest with yourself in your poetry, no one else is going to feel anything genuine when they read your work. It can be painfully terrifying to open up and honestly express your feelings on paper, but that’s the name of the game.”

Learn the Rules and Break Them

The above tips are by no means the laws of poetry. Poetry is anarchy. You can do pretty much anything you want with it. However, you should learn as much as you can about it so you can make wise decisions about how to express yourself. For example, you might discover that a sestina was the perfect way to commemorate your anniversary.

Are you a poet? Share some of your favorite methods for penning gorgeous verse.

21 Books to Read Before Your 21st Birthday

Our memories of the books we read as children tend to stick fondly in our minds for years after we’ve grown up. We asked our Twitter followers to share their favorite children’s books with us, and here’s what they said. Whether you have children of your own or you’re looking to recapture a bit of the magic of childhood, there’s something on this list for you:

1. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett 2. Matilda by Roald Dahl 3. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch 4. Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola 5. The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo 6. Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren 7. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi 8. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome 9. The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis 10. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery 11. Goodnight Opus by Berkeley Breathed 12. The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle 13. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White 14. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg 15. Wonder by R.J. Palacio 16. Uncle Wiggily’s Story Book by Howard R. Garis 17. The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein 18. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein 19. The Balloon Tree by Phoebe Gilman 20. The Kiss That Missed by David Melling 21. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney

What’s your favorite children’s book? Share the title and author in the comments!

Two-minute Grammar: The Bare-bones Basics of Prepositions

“Vampires! Zombies! Werewolves!” “Where?!” “Behind you!”

Thank goodness for prepositions. Imagine not knowing where the danger lay!

Prepositions tell us where or when something is in relation to something else. When monsters are sneaking up on you, it is good to have these special words to tell us where those monsters are. Are they behind us or in front of us; are they near or far; will they be arriving in three seconds or at midnight?

Prepositions are helpful words that define direction, time, location, and spatial relationships. They tell us where or when something is in relation to something else. For example:

“The book is on the table beside you.” (On and beside are prepositions of location.)

Prepositions can also be used to contrast ideas.

“We went for a walk despite the rain.” (Despite is the preposition showing contrast.)

Here are some commonly used prepositions: about, above, across, after, against, along, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, but, by, despite, down, during, except, for, from, in, inside, into, like, near, of, off, on, onto, out, outside, over, past, since, through, throughout, till, to, toward, under, underneath, until, up, upon, with, within, without

Some common phrases used to require prepositions, but language has evolved to the point where they are now superfluous and sound silly. For example:

“Could you get that box off of the table?” can simply be written as: “Could you get that box off the table?”

“The winner was awarded with a gold medal.” can simply be written as: “The winner was awarded a gold medal.”

Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be any rules that will help you determine if you should use the proposition or not. The best thing to do is read the sentence aloud or read it to a friend and ask if the preposition sounds awkward, strange, or unnecessary.

Finally, is it ever ok to end a sentence with a preposition? Yes, and this blog post explains why.