Kids pen rebuttal about their writing attempt
My children are not very interested in my writing. “You’re in the paper again?” they ask when I show them an article.
I don’t mind — this way, I don’t feel guilty about making grocery lists in my head while they talk about Minecraft.
But my last article, about their (now abandoned) plan to write three novels, caught their attention. Mustafa sat down and actually read it — and then showed it to his brother, Ibrahim, and their friends Umar and Imtiaz.
“Mom, we’ve decided to write a response to your article,” Mustafa informs me. “It will be one page long, and told from the kids’ point of view.”
“Awesome,” I say. “I can’t wait to read it.”
“Do you think we’ll get paid?” he asks.
“Why don’t you finish it first and then we’ll talk.”
Later, I’m surprised to see Mustafa and his friend Umar hard at work on my dining room table. They pounce on me as I wander past the kitchen. “Can you tell us the success criteria for this project?”
My teacher brain starts spinning. I think of a rubric and toy with a marking scheme.
Then I remember it’s July, and I’m off the clock.
“Why don’t you put some ideas down on paper and I’ll tell you if you’re headed in the right direction,” I say. Then I make myself a cup of chai and watch The Mindy Project.
“This is so hard!” Mustafa complains two minutes later.
“We can’t think of any ideas,” says Umar.
I take my tea and my Netflix to the basement and shut the door.
After 20 minutes, they track me down. “We have something! Can you read it right now?”
They watch me read their masterpiece — all five lines of it.
“This a good start,” I say carefully. “I’d like to see more details, a few personal anecdotes. Maybe end with an appeal to parents. Keep working on it.”
I head back downstairs. This time I get 30 minutes of quiet before being summoned once more.
“We’re done!” they announce, dancing in excitement. I sit down and start reading their manifesto:
“The Minds of Kids Underestimated”
We believe that we are underestimated for our ideas, capability and potential. Oh boy, I think. Here we go. When children have a desire for something, parents are usually always against it. When kids get a “light bulb” idea about what would help the family, parents don’t bother listening because they have this belief that they are more experienced and know better.
When I asked my parents to be left home alone because my friend could be left home alone, my mom declined and said, “You are not responsible enough and too young.” When I asked her when will I be old enough to be left home alone, she said, “13 or 14.” Right then I felt a drop of dissatisfaction. The only solution would be to grow older and wait.
One typical afternoon, we were filming a video of a trailer for a movie, but that idea became a novel we were going to write on Google docs called: “Death Betrayal.”
At first we were very excited and pumped about it, but then we thought it was not for us since we are just kids and novel writing is for adults. You might be thinking of Gordon Korman, and that he wrote his first book at the age of 12. But we thought he was just some guy who was excellent at creative writing. As a result, we got bored and forgot about it.
Now that you have heard how kids feel when you ignore them, at least consider listening to their ideas, because when they are ignored, their good ideas fade away and they will lose their self-esteem and creativity.
It was strange to look at things from their perspective. It was also hard not to start immediately defending my position. Instead, I accepted their rebuttal for what it was: a sincere expression of their opinion. “Well done,” I say. “Though this could use some more work. Maybe write another draft.”
“Nah, we’re happy with it,” Mustafa says, and they run off to play basketball in the driveway.
We’re a fickle group, us writers. Which is not surprising, when we refuse to rewrite. Uzma Jalaluddin is a high school teacher in the York Region. She writes about parenting and other life adventures.