He wanted to start a blog a while back, and I figured that anything that encouraged him to write was a good thing, so I set him up. I tell you, it was awesome. He spent hours writing, finding clip art, figuring out how to do links and embed videos. It was some serious hands on learning.
He mostly writes about video games, sports and funny things he finds online- typical stuff of interest to an 11 year old boy. The thing is, he writes and rewrites and researches and revises again, and he appears to really enjoy doing it. I sometimes want to get in there and correct and suggest etc, but I'm resisting the urge. This is his baby, and I'm loving seeing him have this outlet.
At first, I wanted to keep the blog private, only able to be viewed by select friends and family, but lately, he's been wanting a larger audience. I can totally relate. When you work hard on something, you want to share it with the world. You want other people to look at it, appreciate it, and hopefully leave positive comments. It's even better when it's not just coming from relatives.
So, after a few talks about internet safety and the possibility of negative people, we opened my Boy Child's blog - Hurricane Henry to everyone. I know he'd love if you'd have a look, and even better, share it with your kids, and encourage them to comment. He'd love the feedback.
If you're looking for a venue to get your kids writing, maybe they too could start a blog. Or maybe they could write a guest post for another kids blog? Who knows the future of this project, but for now, I'm happy to see him learning, writing and having fun.
My son has a blog but I don't let him post anything without approval first. I edit for him so sometimes his posts don't get out immediately because he is waiting for me. I think it takes a lot of trust and courage on your part to let go and allow your son to post freely.
ReplyDeleteThanks Victoria. I still check his posts just in case, but I do trust him and am resisting the urge to edit much. He was concerned that I'd take it over and tell him what to write when he really wants it to be a "kid blog." I'm a rambling writer with long posts and he just types a few sentences, so I really have to restrain myself from suggesting too many changes. He is enjoying it so much as his own project, and if I interfere too much, the joy and pride, and possibly the interest, would be lost.
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