Journaling for Preteens--- | JournalBuddies.com

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Journaling for Preteens—

Believe it or not every human being has a life story worth telling. We each experience those things that make us happy or sad, we each face problems and we each have relationships with other human beings, all coming together to make our lives what they are. What’s interesting and makes our life story is that we each experience life in different ways, although there may be some similarities between one person and another. The pre-teen years are an excellent time to start capturing one’s personal experience that is the composition of their life story.

The pre-teen who maintains a journal is continually developing their skill of personal and external observation. Journaling helps the pre-teen to become more aware of what’s going on in the family, at school and social events as well as with what’s going on within themselves. All this observation and written information translates into the pre-teen’s life story: a history that is held within the journal.

Many memoirs and autobiographies started out in the pre-teen years as a personal journal. As the pre-teen grew into a teenager and then into an adult they maintained their journal, recording as much of their life as possible within the pages. Some of these people became famous while others not so much so. But each had something in common – a desire to share their life experience with others, hence their life story in published form.

When a pre-teen captures their life story by journaling it stimulates their personal growth. This stimulation is a direct result of the pre-teen being able to see the past and current patterns of their life. We all want to go in a particular direction in living our lives but we can easily lose sight of our personal vision when we don’t record our past and present experiences. When we don’t make a record of our experiences we can become confused and rather than become stimulated we become overwhelmed. The pre-teen who keeps a journal will be less confused and more stimulated.

For the pre-teen interested in a writing career the journal is perhaps the best place to start developing this skill. Not only does the journal serve as a record of the pre-teen’s life but it can also be the foundation for developing a writing voice and style. Most prolific writers started their careers from investing time in writing into their journals and by maintaining the practice. Many authors also use their journals for character development using their observations of the world around them.

In this article we have captured how journaling can become the telling of the pre-teen’s life story. But it should be noted that maintaining a journal for any purpose takes commitment and time. The time involved can be practically any length that the pre-teen is willing to invest. The important thing is to reserve some time every day to spend writing. It is also helpful if the pre-teen has a place that they feel comfortable writing at, whether that place is in the solitude of their room, in the living room or the local library.

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