…Write.
Next to reading writing is probably the most important skill you can build into your child. You cannot depend on the schools to teach your child to write well. For the most part they do not. Your child will have to write well to be successful in life. The current culture conspires against that with texting and emails.
The reason writing is so important is that communicating through the written word is hard. It forces one to think critically about what one is attempting to communicate. It compels one to put oneself in the mind of one’s reader to anticipate questions and to answer them effectively.
It is a skill that is informed by yesterday’s suggestion, reading and fuels the last thing I will suggest tomorrow.
This issue became crystal clear for me when I graded papers for a class in seminary. The papers were written by people in their second or third year of a four year masters program. I was shocked by the inability of those students to communicate concisely and effectively what they were thinking on paper. It is a huge deal. For the rest of your child’s professional life they will be required to write. If not for that, the discipline will help them learn to think. That skill is in short supply these days as well.
Next to reading writing is probably the most important skill you can build into your child. You cannot depend on the schools to teach your child to write well. For the most part they do not. Your child will have to write well to be successful in life. The current culture conspires against that with texting and emails.
It is a skill that is informed by yesterday’s suggestion, reading and fuels the last thing I will suggest tomorrow.
This issue became crystal clear for me when I graded papers for a class in seminary. The papers were written by people in their second or third year of a four year masters program. I was shocked by the inability of those students to communicate concisely and effectively what they were thinking on paper. It is a huge deal. For the rest of your child’s professional life they will be required to write. If not for that, the discipline will help them learn to think. That skill is in short supply these days as well.
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