Growing up I loved to journal. It was the getaway for my introvert self. I still journal when I get a chance because it is such a great way to look back and see how I have grown over the years. I also use it to write down how the Lord has been working in my life, the times I overcame my anxieties, and the things I am grateful for. Knowing the benefits of journaling, I wanted to introduce it early on to my daughter. Starting at the age of 3, she was very expressive with her drawings. Once she knew how to draw faces, she would illustrate her emotions. I still have a hug pile of drawings that have happy faces, angry faces, people crying and celebrations!
After teaching her phonics, I challenged her to write a sentence about something she wanted to remember from the day. Instead of helping her, I had Dani sound everything out and try her best. A lot of her older journal entries do not make sense, but there was always a drawing for reference. Even though she does not journal every day, I love seeing her get excited to draw/write things out when she wants to remember something special.
Happy Entries:
Our family loves to travel. Airplane, boat, car, bike...still need to do train at some point. I always make sure to take my journal and bible wherever I go. Dani decided to find a journal like mine and now carries a pink one on our adventures. She tends to write more when we are on trips because so many fun things happen. After we come back home, Dani looks back at her journal entries and loves to talk about what we did.
Sad Entries:
Apart from the good things, Dani has also used journaling as a way to express her feelings during hard times. There was an incident with a friend when she was 4 and she was very hurt by what had happened. My husband and I talked to her about it, but we could tell that things were confusing and unresolved for her. For awhile she would draw the same picture of the incident that happened. It made us very sad to see, but also knew it was a way to process the situation. Once she knew how to write, she put words to the pictures. It was good to see what she was feeling and it also helped us talk to her about to deal with the incident.
Benefits:
Journaling is such a great tool and helps us slow down to process or remember things that have happened. It has helped Dani with her emotions but also was a good way to practice writing + sounding things out. I let her make mistakes so that she can see how things change as she gets older and learns more. Overtime she was able to correct some of the mistakes on her own. I am gradually seeing improvement in her spelling and also penmanship. :)
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