A word about the importance
          of family writing
           
          "Writing for fun is not just for fun--it's for the long-term, conspicuous development of the craft itself."
          --Mem Fox in Radical Reflections


          There is both a tremendous irony and a terrible crisis in our personal lives today:  we are suffering from a failure of communication and a dearth of story.  It is ironic that we burden ourselves with hardware such as beepers and cell phones in order to be connected to each other 24/7, and yet we feel lonelier and more disconnected than ever.  We need the human exchange of communication, the sharing of stories, to help us define who we are and to remind us that we are not alone.

          Another symptom of this dearth of story can be found on any TV talk show.  The worst of these shows have deteriorated from talk (you can't follow a conversation because of all the bleeps where offensive language has been censored) to violence and aggression.  Yet these shows enjoy tremendous popularity, especially among our young people.  Could it be that they are so hungry for human stories that they will settle for such demoralizing public displays of inarticulate rage?

          Technology such as radio and television and, more recently, the Internet has inundated us with information, visual images, and noise, but it has not brought us closer to those we care most about.  The typical family today is more familiar with the lives of imaginary television families than with their own real history.  Yet these artificial families leave us feeling empty and inadequate.

          At the same time, social changes have caused us to move away from our roots, our birthplaces, and our extended families.  Our children have few opportunities to sit with grandparents, aunts and uncles, and family friends who have known us all of our lives and to hear their stories about where we came from.  As parents, we become so busy with our professional lives, household responsibilities, and community service that we arrive at the end of the day with--if we're lucky--barely enough time and energy to read a story from a book.

          It has been noted that when you read your child a story from a book, your child focuses on the pictures in the book; yet when you tell your child a story or read a story that you have written specifically for your child, then your child focuses on you.  I am not arguing against reading to your children, but I am suggesting that that is only half of what our children need from us as they develop literacy skills.

          Family writing and storytelling benefits every member of the family in a number of ways.  First of all, it is a pleasant activity that brings us closer, helps us to understand each other, and bonds the open and warm relationships that we want to foster with our children.  Second, it helps our children to develop communication skills.  They learned to talk because we took the time to listen and respond to them and to model speech; they will learn to write better when we write with and for them.  Third--and this is perhaps the most powerful effect of family writing--through our personal and family stories we give our children a foundation for understanding themselves better.  Our stories reveal our identities, our values, and our beliefs--all the things we want to share with our children.  Fourth, by teaching children the power of words we give them a tool for dealing with their own experiences throughout their lives.  As G. Lynn Nelson, a professor at Arizona State University and proponent of personal writing, likes to say, it is better that our children should pick up a journal than a gun or a bottle when they are disappointed, frustrated, or confused.

          We want to connect our children to their past, their present, and their future.  That is the importance of family writing.

           

          This site is part of a sabbatical project created by Linda Evans, English Department, Mesa Community College, and funded by the Maricopa County Community College District.  Please send comments, suggestions, and ideas to Linda Evans, English Department, Mesa Community College, 1833 W. Southern Ave., Mesa, AZ, 85202 or email evans_l@mc.maricopa.edu.