Planning for the Future: Use Journals to Help Kids Set Goals and Define Dreams
Whether your kids are looking ahead to high school, college, or potential career paths, it’s never too early to start thinking about the future. Journaling is one of the best ways to help kids plan ahead, as the practice offers a way to record thoughts, emotions, ideas, and plans.
By answering daily prompts or engaging in regular free-writing, kids will become more comfortable expressing their thoughts and communicating their feelings. Check out a few of the other ways that journaling helps kids figure out what they really want in life.
Whether your kids are looking ahead to high school, college, or potential career paths, it’s never too early to start thinking about the future. Journaling is one of the best ways to help kids plan ahead, as the practice offers a way to record thoughts, emotions, ideas, and plans.
By answering daily prompts or engaging in regular free-writing, kids will become more comfortable expressing their thoughts and communicating their feelings. Check out a few of the other ways that journaling helps kids figure out what they really want in life.
Journaling Help Kids Set Goals and Define Dreams
1. Creates a Safe Place for Exploration
A child’s journal is his
or her private space—a place to record thoughts without fear of
judgment or repercussions. It’s important to ensure children privacy
with their journals so that they can safely and comfortably explore
their thoughts. While kids might not always feel comfortable discussing
their dreams in front of others, there is no need for embarrassment or
fear in the process of writing a journal. This allows kids to think
about the many potential paths that lie ahead and to consider each as an
equal opportunity. Writing is a place for imagination and possibility.
2. Offers a Chance for Reflection
Kids live in a busy
world today. Between school, homework, sporting practices, and music
lessons, it’s easy for them to keep moving on to the next activity
without ever pausing to make sure that they are on the right track.
Journaling offers kids a chance to slow down and reflect on their lives
and the decisions they’re making. By taking a closer look at their
feelings and thoughts, kids can become more attuned to the elements of
life that are most important to them.
3. Provides Consistency
In addition to providing
kids with an opportunity to reflect, journaling also offers consistency
and gives stability to their daily routines. Though kids face
uncertainty and stress from multiple sources each day, journaling offers
a regular respite from life’s demands. If you’re trying to help kids
shape a responsible daily routine, try incorporating journaling as a
morning or evening activity where kids can set an intention for the day
or reflect on their experiences.
4. Helps to Clarify Emotions
Adolescence is a
difficult time, filled with conflicting emotions and roller-coasters of
feelings. All too often, kids might not even be aware of the sources of
their feelings or the particular emotions they experience. Journaling
helps kids clarify these feelings. As kids write about their
experiences, reactions, and emotions, they can make sense of life and
develop a greater understanding of themselves.
5. Improves Communication Skills
Wherever your kids go in life, they’ll
benefit greatly if they are skilled at communicating. Journaling
improves general reading and writing skills
and helps kids learn how to describe things specifically. When kids
write, they become more comfortable expressing their own impressions and
they learn how to articulate meaning better. Whether your child ends up
working as a dental hygienist, an accounting specialist, or a
songwriter, he or she will benefit greatly from years spent working on
communication skills in journals!
Until next time, journal on…
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