Don’t Stifle Children’s Desire to Write

10/12/2021

Don’t Stifle Children’s Desire to Write

The job of an educator is to teach students to see vitality in themselves.
Joseph Campbell

Rebecca Giles reminds all of us who work with or for children that often we inadvertently dampen, or even extinguish, children’s love for writing because of stifling “skill and drill” practices at a young age.
In her book, A Young Writer’s World, she writes, “As children explore the wonders of the written word, imitating the writers around them, they begin to realize that developing one’s ideas on paper by composing sentences is a rewarding process. With plenty of time and rich experiences that allow children to incorporate writing into their play, they can successfully navigate the journey to become confident and creative authors.”

An Exchange Reflections, "Writing and Dramatic Play: Perfect Partners," centered on an article by Giles, provides a wealth of ideas about using dramatic play as an inspiration for children's writing, based on this premise:

“The dramatic play center, traditionally known as the housekeeping or home center, allows children to enact ideas and experiment with props as they dramatize familiar roles… Children apply their knowledge of language, numbers and print…as they recreate scenes and participate in role play related to well-known situations, such as cooking dinner or going to the grocery store.”

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