For Your Journal: Writing Prompt

Do you keep a journal – or wish you could get one started? Literary Mama wants to help. Several times a month, we’ll post a writing prompt. Open a notebook and write for 10 minutes. Don’t worry about grammar or punctuation – just write.  

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One of my favorite things to do is to walk through nature and take pictures. It calms me down, redirects my thinking, and gets me looking at the world through a different lens. I’ve walked and photographed plenty of times alone; but also many times with my son tagging along. Lately he’s been asking for his own camera.

We got him one a few years ago. It was a “kid’s” camera, which means it was cheap plastic meant to break within a few weeks. It was made by Crayola, with a flip open digital screen, and buttons that were unclear in their purpose. My son used it quite a bit, and got some enjoyment out of it, but as predicted, it broke, and he has been camera-less since.

Now he’s eight, and more responsible. I want to encourage his interest, but I’ve been unsure about spending more money on a cheap/breakable camera. After he talked about it for days, and then dredged his room for every last penny he had, I knew we would have to find a decent camera for a decent price. Lucky for my wallet, my stepdaughter produced the old camera we got her when she was ten (she’s sixteen now), and gave it to her brother. We dusted it off, got some new batteries, and now we’ve got another happy photographer in the family.

Camera in hand, the first thing my son said to me after some test pictures was “Want to take a walk?” I couldn’t have been more pleased.

 

In your journal today, write about something your child does or has done to follow in your footsteps. Is it a good hobby, or a bad habit, or something else entirely? How does he put his own spin on the task? How does he copy you? Do you like his copycat behavior or not? How does it feel?

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Do YOU have a writing prompt to share with Literary Mama readers? Send your 150- to 300-word narrative and associated writing prompt to lmblogeditor (at) literarymama (dot) com. We’d love to read your ideas!