As a responsible parent, you understand the role of Writing in a child’s creative thinking, communication, critical thinking, and analytical skills. The only catch:

When the time comes for your schooler to write their first Essay, you may face their adverse reaction and unwillingness to do that.

No wonder:

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It’s hard (if possible) to explain to Children why they should write and learn something instead of reading their favorite books, playing with friends, or watching a favorite movie. Your mission is not to force them or rant about the importance of doing homework. Instead, become a mentor and instill love in writing in your child.

Below are the tips and tricks to motivate your young genius to write their first essay.

Give Easy Yet Interesting Topics

There’s no need to wait for your children to go to school and get the first writing assignment from a teacher: Encourage them to craft stories on easy topics that are interesting to them. It can be a short essay on “describe my mother,” “tell about my dog,” “describe my favorite cartoon hero,” etc.

The trick is to avoid topics that are too complicated, which would make a child associate essay writing with something super challenging or tedious. Also, don’t judge the quality at this stage: Swearing at your aspiring writer for every typo or grammar mistake won’t do any good.

Engage With Attractive Writing Instruments

Organize a writing space for your children and allow them to decorate it. Go shopping together and buy writing instruments they love: colorful pens and pencils, funny stickers, bright markers, a fun notebook where they’ll write down essays, etc.

Help them choose tools that will inspire them to write. Such a place will attract your children and motivate them to create something there. Let them bring whatever they find necessary: posters with their favorite superheroes, photos, stickers with funny or inspiring quotes, they’ll name it!

Play Writing Games Together

Essay writing seems easy and not obligatory when it looks fun. Search educational websites for writing games you can play with your children online or offline. (Consider those age-appropriate so they would be easy enough for a child.)

Such games help develop vocabulary, learn basic spelling and grammar rules for better writing, and understand the fundamental essay structure.

Gamification is a powerful teaching technique that will help you instill love in writing. Children won’t see essays as anything imposed but creative and exciting.

Read Fairy Tales

Reading can make your child a better writer: Fairy tales develop imagination, immersing us in exciting worlds and making us empathize with characters. We want to know what will happen to our favorite hero next, how the story will end, and whether there will be a sequel.

Point that curiosity in the right direction:

Encourage children to create stories about characters from their favorite books. You can explain an elementary text structure so they understand how to build a storyline. (It will be helpful when they write their first essay in school.)

Ask to Write a Story About Their Hero

More on story creation here:

Ask children to create characters and worlds and describe them. Let it be short stories; don’t force them to write lengthy texts with complex plots and many heroes: 100-150 words will be more than enough for your young writer to feel their writing power and keep polishing their writing craft.

Encourage Reading Their Essay to the Family

Once an essay is ready, please encourage your child to read it out loud to the family. Organize a supporting environment: Prepare the words of support, praise children’s efforts, and be open to questions.

Your children will see that close people find their essays interesting. They’ll be the center of attention, and it will encourage them to grow their writing skills and write more stories. As a bonus, such practice helps with speaking skills development:

A child won’t be afraid of reading aloud or speaking to the public.

Reward

Introduce rewards into your children’s daily routines. The expectation of the reward will serve as an incentive to write an essay or complete any other task you give:

It doesn’t need to be anything big or expensive. Tell children they will get a treat, go outside with friends, or watch their favorite YouTube show after they do homework. With something fun ahead, they get extra motivation to work.

And no, it’s not bribery. That’s how the human brain works: The anticipation of a reward boosts dopamine, thus influencing our neural systems and behavioral responses. (In plain English, we become more productive and motivated to do the job.)

It’s Your Turn Now!

Writing skills are essential for our cognitive abilities, so the sooner your children start mastering them, the better. As a parent, you can help them love writing:

• Organize an inspiring writing place.
• Play writing games with children.
• Encourage them to create stories and listen to them.

With such preparation and support, a child won’t get lost when the time comes to write their first essay in school.

The post Tips and Hacks for Children Writing Their First Essay first appeared on Stuff Parents Need.