For Your Journal: Writing Prompt

Do you keep a journal – or wish you could get one started? Literary Mama wants to help.

Three times a month, I’ll post a writing prompt. Open a notebook and write for 10 minutes. Don’t worry about grammar or punctuation – just write. Then let the writing simmer and your mind wander for awhile.

And who knows? Maybe you’ll discover a character for your next short story or a theme for a narrative essay. Or maybe you’ll use the idea to create a special holiday card or photo album for someone in your family. However you decide to use your journal entry, I know you’ll enjoy re-reading it months–and years–down the road.
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In the introductory pages of The Children’s Book of Virtues, William J. Bennett writes about the importance of showing children what the essentials of good character look like and why they deserve admiration.

“Today, we talk about how important it is to ‘have values,’ as if they were beads on a string or marbles in a pouch. But these stories speak to morality and virtues not as something to be possessed but as the core of human nature, not as something to have but as something to be.”

His list of virtues: courage, perseverance, responsibility, work, self-discipline, compassion, faith, honesty, loyalty, friendship.

Journal Entry: Look at your child’s bookshelf and list one book, story, or poem for each virtue listed above. Write two or three sentences about each choice, describing the message or moral it teaches.