The hearing, enjoying, sharing, trying, discussing, remembering, discovering of life and literature naturally flow into writing. 1 Preparing for writing is in my view the most important part of the process. Talking about the writing allows us to refine our thinking. Poor writing is as much a result of poor thinking and a lack of preparation and purpose as it is a result of a lack of technical skills. TIME is the key.
Good writing takes time, lots of it.
Share the writing experience with your child by writing with them. Modelling good writing habits is an important part of the process. Children need to see that adults jot down some ideas before they begin, that they may stop and start a couple of times before the writing begins to flow, that they need to think about finding just the right word and so on. Children get so used to seeing finished products, that they do not realise that these reflect the results of a very time consuming process. Share samples of good writing.