Something Worth Saying
Bogart Kids
I have a million photos of my kids. My 5 are forever hoisting one big kid sideways in celebration of a life event.
I love them, even when the faces are blurry.
I have one well-posed photo that we all hate. Before we took the “family portrait,” half of us were in tears. No one would stand still, there was an argument about whether or not to keep the top button buttoned on a shirt, and we had to stand in line WHILE behaving (as if behaving and line-standing at once are possible in this time-space continuum). The photo shows smiling faces. The family is arranged just so. And it’s lifeless.
Sure, I’ve got some well-staged photos of my kids that show all their teeth, each person looking at the camera and no one seething that they had to button the top button, too. As they’ve gotten older, though, even those photos have changed. They wear clothes that express their personalities, they stand in the order they prefer, they laugh or pose or act all serious.
And now: the Grand Analogy to Writing you were waiting for.
Would you still rather believe that stiff, lifeless prose that matches a format, achieved through tears, tantrums, and trauma will result in better writing than tapping into your child’s quirky, insightful, natural personality?
Can you imagine what would happen if you believed your child had something worth saying and that your only job is to capture it like a candid photograph—a snapshot of their inner life, at this moment in time?
Did you realize that the writing your child does (from their tender heart or their silly sense of humor or their fact-packed mind) IS the snapshot of their person that will preserve who they are for you even better than silly photographs and family portraits?
Nab it! Jot it down! The forms for writing come easiest when a child has full access to their ideas, beliefs, and words. Brave Writer has tools that help you teach the forms while maximizing your child’s originality! These forms match a child’s stage of growth (we don’t expect 3rd graders to write essays—PLEASE).
New to us? Start here!
