For all the parents out there...i have found a wonderful activity to do with kids!

A couple months ago my husband and i started writing in a journal together. We had done this years ago and really enjoyed it...for some reason the process ebbed to a stop, but now it's flowing again. Our son, who's 12, knew that mom and dad were doing this and asked if he could do it too.

Well, i gave both my husband and son a Waterman Kultur F (demonstrator, in blue) for Valentine's Day and i found a journal for my son and i to start writing in. It's been great! First of all, writing (in school) is not his strength...when asked to write some kind of essay, his usually ends up being, like, 2 sentences long. Well, with the journal he writes lengthy entries...goes into lots of detail, and the things that he shares with me are precious. Sometimes he writes in response to one of my leading questions, and sometimes he writes about something out of the blue (like the other day he wrote about how he likes to sit on top of his snow hill, next to the house, and talk to his 'father' Poseidon (he has a real interest in mythology)). Of course, that led me to write him the question, "what do you talk about?"...so now i'm waiting for his response.

I think there is something about writing in a journal, or even writing a letter, that allows people to go places with their thoughts and expression that they would not necessarily verbalize. And journaling with my son is allowing us to 'connect' in a new way.

Oh! And a real plus is that he really likes his FP and he thinks his handwriting is better using it. I'd have to agree.

~Jasper

Not sure about the journaling, but I have to agreee that a fountain pen does wonders to help with handwriting.

That's a fantastic idea! I journal, and both kids have started keeping journals of their own, both at home and at school, but we've never done a collective journal like this one. I think mine might still be on the young side for it, but this is a really intriguing idea for the future.

Cool idea...

And yes people will often express in writing (or typing online) things they wouldn't say out loud or at least in a face to face conversation.

"We had done this years ago and really enjoyed it...for some reason the process ebbed to a stop,"

Hello Jasper,

Maybe you should find some of those OLD journals too!

I think it is great that your sharing writing with your son and what a clever idea, journals are usually such a solitaire thing... Tho' you might want to check out the "Traveling journals" FPN is doing ...

Good Luck and happy writing together.

Pen Pixie

That sounds like a great idea. I'll just have to remember it for the next couple of years since my son can't read or write yet. Thanks for the idea!

Jim

As an elementary teacher, I'm always telling my students' parents how great journaling is for those who have an aversion to writing. What I like doing, too, is giving my students a prompt to freewrite to, such as "You're walking along the beach one day and you find a bottle with a note inside." They then get to complete the rest of the story as they wish.

I've been keeping a journal since I was 15, but it's private and I've only shared it with real close friends and an older cousin who's like a sister to me. Infact I just finished writing one big, fat, angry entry in it.