Should your K-kids write diary or weekly journals?

I recently heard that some top kindergartens are asking kids to write diary or weekly journal. I don’t know if it is just a rumour or not, I also don’t know the format of these “diary”. There is no way to find out. However, it does not change how I think.

Kindergarten is a place for children to socialise, to learn about life skills and basic subject knowledge in order to equip them with primary schooling. Most importantly, it is a place for kids to develop their values of life and interests in learning.

Preschoolers may be able to read, to spell, to draw, or even write, but they do not need to write journals!!! Of course, that is, unless your kids are somehow very into it and they enjoy recording what they have done every single day in sentences or even short paragraphs.

Other than writing diary, there are activities similar to journalling that you can do at home with your preschoolers in order to facilitate their learning. First, you can prepare a little notebook or a wall chart. Write a chart. Every night, you can review the day with your children: Were they happy that day? What made them happy or sad? What did they eat for lunch/dinner? Who did they meet? ,etc. You can prepare some stickers with smiley or sad faces on so they can stick their feelings on that day. You can also write down a few common activities you do, like going to the park, on stickers so they can stick them on themselves so as to train their fine motor skills. If it is something more special, you can discuss what to write on the stickers and you can write it on unless the child requests to do it by him/herself. It is important that they are a part of the activity because they are the bosses of their lives, not the parents. This activity helps with memory because children have to recall the things they have done every day. It also helps kids recognise their feelings which we all have. If possible, a little debriefing session can be used to discuss with the kids their (mis)behaviours, to encourage good ones and how to be better if they are misbehaving that day.

As for the writing part, it is not necessary for kindergarten kids to able to write in sentences and paragraphs. It is never the earlier, the better. It’s more important they get a good grip on pencils, have good motor skills, are able to recognise words, and essentially show an interest towards learning. To facilitate that, parents can let them draw freely more often so they like writing and drawing tools. This could eliminate the boredom that can be associated with writing homework. Preschools can practise writing on and with different medium including sand, clay, even dry foods. This will make making words so much more fun and down-to-earth because it is something that they can touch. Parents can also emphasis the uses of words and writing, for example, you can write shopping lists with children, look at manuals of appliances at home, or read labels and price tags in the supermarket. This is to educate kids that words are not only for school. It is for life. This will trigger the inner learner in your child. Every child enjoys learning new things, even adults do. It gives them satisfaction. We just need to spark their motivation.