In the children’s book CHARLOTTE’S WEB (and the subsequent movie based on it), the spider, Charlotte, shows how important being a good writer is: She saves the life of Wilbur, the pig, through her use of words.
Your child could take a lesson from Charlotte—even if he or she doesn’t see herself pursuing a literary career.
Being an apt wordsmith is crucial in many other fields besides being an author. Professionals and businesspeople need to craft such documents as reports, speeches, press releases, advertisements, and more. College students need to write theses. Ordinary people who write letters to the editor of a newspaper or magazine had better word their letters coherently and intelligently if they hope to see them published.
Small-business owners frequently need to write their own ads, their own publicity and press releases, and do other tasks involving wordcraft that they aren’t budgeted to hire others to do for them.
Are you beginning to see the importance to non-authors of writing? And if your child wants to get ahead in this world, he or she had better learn that “How r u 2day? I 4got its my moms bdy” isn’t going to cut it in the real world out there.
So encourage your child to write, and to learn to write well. Buy him or her a diary or journal. Suggest that he or she publish a newsletter for family or friends, using the family computer. If he expresses an interest in family history, encourage him to create a “book” (construction paper covers) in which he writes the family history he has gleaned from interviewing both his parents and, if feasible, his grandparents as well. Encourage her in any other projects involving writing that might appeal to her—perhaps writing a biography of the family pet.
You’ll notice that all the projects I’ve suggested are nonfiction. I in no way mean to suggest that you should discourage your child from experimenting with fiction. ALL writing will help her or him to practice the craft. But the types of writing he might get into if he doesn’t become a writer but does get into a field that requires good written communication (reports, ads, etc.—see above) call for a facility with nonfiction. They do not require the ability to dream up plots and flights of fancy.
Whether or not your child has authorial aspirations, encourage him or her to hone his ability to write. Surely Charlotte was on to something!