Parents should encourage children to write

By Soekanto S.A.

BOGOR, West Java (JP): Nine-year-old Nida, compared to her elder sister, is timid and does not often express what's in her mind.

But the girl is actually sponge-like, absorbing everything around her. After she finishes her homework she usually sits in a corner and reads until it becomes too dark and her mother starts to yell at her to stop.

One day the family received news that their paternal grandfather had died in a small town in East Java. There was a commotion as hurried packing preceded the departure of Nida's father in order for him to attend the funeral.

Amidst it all, Nida did not say much. Only days later did her mother find a scrap of paper with Nida's handwriting on it. It was a poem through which she mourned the passing of her grandfather, a sourly-looking old man who was actually very funny and loving toward Nida and her siblings. It went like this:

Mourning

The telephone wouldn't stop ringing

I ran toward it, I picked it up

I heard screaming, someone's crying

Calling out my father's name

I didn't understand, I gave the phone to my mom

She listened, then said almost inaudibly

Innalillahi wa inna ilaihi rojiun

(Everything comes from Allah, and returns to Allah)

I asked, she was quiet

I asked, and asked, and asked

When I found out, I could only be silent

It's my grandmother, calling to tell that Granpa had died

I am so sorry Granpa

I am so sorry there was nothing we could do

We can only offer our prayers that Allah helps you ...

By writing the poem, Nida was able to express her feeling of loss and was able to cope fairly well.

Children should be encouraged to write. There is no such thing as a correct form of writing: kids can pour their hearts into their diaries, they can write short stories or even novels, they can compose songs and they can also write poems.

Most experts agree that writing down one's feelings and observations on life is a beneficial exercise.

It is a process that fosters development of creativity, it provides an outlet for one's emotions, and it is also an exercise that cultivates a child's skills. Who knows, they may someday be successful writers or Pulitzer-prize winning journalists?

How do parents go about encouraging children to write? When to start?

Start early

Children develop two forms of speech early on: receptive and expressive. Through gestures and noises they make, parents know that their children understand what is being said to them, even when they are not yet able to formulate words. The second is when children start to talk and express their thoughts on anything.

This means that parents can encourage children to "write" at a very early age. Scribbling on paper, humming songs whose words were made up by themselves, storytelling, playing with imaginary friends and even daydreaming ... these are all "writing" for the children.

Besides, the time just before children enter primary schools is often considered critical; this is the stage where the untutored mind is fertile soil for creativity.

Elizabeth B. Hurlock wrote in her book Child Development (1978) that creativity is the capacity of persons to produce compositions, products, or ideas of any sort which are essentially new or novel, and previously unknown to the producer.

Creativity is a process, not a product; children benefit in their exercise of creativity in that they learn to think in ways that may differ from others' way of thinking.

The process itself is goal-directed, and it leads to the production of something new, different, and, therefore, unique for the person whether it be verbal or nonverbal, concrete or abstract.

"Creativity comes from divergent thinking, while conformity and everyday problem-solving comes from convergent thinking," according to Hurlock. "Creativity is a form of controlled imagination that leads to some kind of achievement, whether in painting, block building or daydreaming."

By writing, children embark on a process of creating something new or novel, much as sculptors sculpt or painters paint.

In writing, the clay that is needed is experience and observation. Writers create events in a logical manner, describe characters, portray faces, in such a way that they convince readers and urge them to identify with the characters.

Writers speak with their words, much as dancers speak with their movements.

Explore

"Live first, write later" is the adage followed by most writers. One cannot write well unless one knows aspects of the issue that one will write about.

The same can be said for children. Encourage them to explore and observe their environments and to write down their thoughts later. An encounter with a sick dog during a walk in a dewy morning may trigger a child's imagination; encourage him or her to construct a story in their mind and ask them to write it down later.

Parents can help by asking, "Why do you think the dog is sick? Has he eaten? Where's his owner? Do you think he belongs to someone? Did he lose his way? Do you think it's possible for a dog to lose his way? I feel pity for the dog. Do you think his owner is missing him now?"

Point things out to children. A meatball seller who sits down, weeping, on the pavement after his cart is run over by a car. A toddler crying and pointing at toys in the market. A shoe-shine boy who falls asleep near a pedestrian bridge.

Conversations that may develop between parents and children about those things provide children with the richest source of life experience that will later help them write.

Facilities

The most valuable facility that a parent can give a child is, of course, encouragement. This can take the form of an opportunity to exchange views, to argue, or merely to sound out ideas.

There should also be the opportunity for children to choose to stay in their room in order to write in their journal. It should go without saying of course, no reading of diaries or journals without the young author's permission -- those budding writers usually protect privacy fiercely and demand that parents respect it.

Do children need talent in order to write? Talent certainly helps, but it is not everything as many people would say, before pointing out at the "one percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration" theory.

Besides, most parents would agree that having a healthy, emotionally well-adjusted child is more important than the promise of a Pulitzer God knows when.

The writer has had several of his stories for children published, mainly by the Jakarta-based Pustaka Jaya.