DEAR DIARY
IF YOU WANT YOUR CHILDREN TO GET BETTER AT WRITING, BUYING THEM A DIARY FOR CHRISTMAS COULD BE A BIG HELP, WRITES LISA SALMON
LETTING thoughts and feelings flood out onto the pages of a diary can be a valuable emotional release – but for children, expressing emotions isn’t the only huge benefit of diary writing.
Pupils who keep a diary are almost twice as likely to write above the expected level for their age as children who don’t keep one (27.1% vs 15.5%).
In addition, a report by the National Literacy Trust (NLT) found diary writing allows children to choose what they want to write, and 82% of girls and 76% of boys say if they can choose the subject, writing is more fun.
CHRISTMAS DIARY
BECAUSE of the clear benefits of diary writing, the NLT is calling on parents to think about giving children a diary for Christmas.
“Encouraging children to keep a diary is a great way to get them excited about writing,” says NLT director Jonathan Douglas.
“Writing about the best parts of their days, their friends, and their hopes and dreams can be fun for children. Diaries are also a great way to help children build resilience as they process their thoughts and express their feelings.
“We’re encouraging anyone buying presents for a child this Christmas to give the gift of a diary. You’ll be giving them a platform to express themselves through words and the tools to become a better writer and do well at school.
“The more children write, the better at writing they’ll become. And you never know – your child could produce the next Diary Of A Wimpy Kid!”
VIVID MEMORIES
THE diary campaign is supported by children’s author and former Children’s Laureate Jacqueline Wilson, who kept a diary herself as a teenager and has included diary writing in her books, including diary entries in her children’s fiction series Tracy Beaker, and her own diary entries in an autobiographical account, My Secret Diary.
“I still have the diaries I wrote as a teenager. I wince at times when I read them, but they bring back those long-ago days so vividly and help me remember what it’s like to be young,” she says.
“Diary writing is a brilliant idea for children, because it helps them organise their thoughts and express themselves. They get used to writing every day and become fluent. They often enjoy using a special book and pen and feel grown-up keeping their own private diary.”
DIARY DECLINE
THE NLT report found diary writing to be more popular with girls, and more broadly with younger children of both genders – three times as many girls as boys keep a diary (29.5% vs 10.3%), while twice as many pupils in their final years of primary school write in a diary compared to pupils in their last years of secondary school (29.4% of pupils aged 8-11 vs 11.9% of pupils aged 14-16).
While the research also highlighted a drop in the number of children writing in a diary over the past five years, from one child in four (24.5% in 2010) to one child in five (20.3% in 2015), it also found that almost half of children (46.8%) are still writing something in private in their free time.
Jonathan says: “Diaries give children a chance to express themselves and provide a unique opportunity to get them excited about writing – something which is important as the number of children writing in diaries has declined in recent years.
“Diaries are also a great way to help children build resilience as they process their thoughts and express their feelings.”