If you’ve had a difficult time figuring out how to juggle your writing life with your parenting life, might I suggest you try weaving the two together? In my experience, kids enjoy coming along for the journey, and writing is much more accessible to kids than other professions and hobbies.

So before you put your writing on hold for the rest of the summer, here are five tips to help you include your children in your writing life. You’ll be able to spend time with your kids while working towards your writing goals, and you just might have fun doing it.

1. Share the Joy of Reading

Create a family culture that values reading. Bedtime stories are standard in many homes, but brainstorm other ways to enjoy stories together. 

My kids and I enjoy listening to audiobooks during lunchtime, and I appreciate the bonus of less bickering. You might build a reading fort in your home or pitch a reading tent in the yard. Watch a movie based on a book, then compare it with the book.

Share book recommendations with one another. Talk about what you’ve enjoyed reading and why. Don’t shame your kids for their book choices. Parents often get uptight about their kids’ summer reading, which isn’t fair. (How many adults fill their summer reading exclusively with weighty literature?)

If you set summer reading goals, make reading the prize. Visit your local bookstore and let everyone purchase a book. It’s a prize that builds each child’s personal library.

When we value reading in our homes, we respect writing. Your kids may also start writing as they aspire to be like their favorite authors.

2. Show Your Work

Kids are naturally inquisitive, so why not teach them about your work? If your material is not suitable for young people, instead share about the writing life, the publishing process, or how to generate story ideas.

If you are researching for a project, teach your kids how to use the library and online resources to uncover information. Show them how you organize your facts and data. Teach them best practices, including how to find reliable sources. Encourage them to work on their own research project, and you can work side by side.

When age-appropriate, try pitching your story ideas to your kids. This has a double benefit: it will require you to be clear and brief, which is required in a pitch, and kids are honest and they will tell you if it stinks!

Above all, be transparent about the challenges you face. Tell your kids how frustrating it is when you receive rejections. Let them see the arduous revision process, complete with messy markups. Show them how you keep writing, even when—especially when—you’re not sure how it’s all going to turn out.

Kids rarely get to see the process that goes into good writing. They can become discouraged when their writing isn’t perfect on the first try. You are giving them a gift when you show creativity is hard work.

3. Interact with the Writing Community

Be good literary citizens and support writers. Leave a positive book review, or leave one on behalf of your child who is too young to post it. Promote other people’s work on social media platforms. My kids love it when the author likes our post or leaves a comment for us.

Send fan mail. Most writers I know love hearing their work has impacted others. They may reply, and it is a thrill to hear from a favorite author.

Go to local bookstores, library story times, book fairs, and literary festivals. Attend an author event or local book signing. These events help you network, and they show your kids that authors are real people.

4. Establish a Daily Time to Create

Set aside time every day to create. It doesn’t have to be the same time every day, so long as it happens every day.

Your family’s creative time should be enjoyable—not a chore. Let each person pick their preferred activity. Make sure everyone has what they need, set a timer, and create!

Younger children may need short blocks of time (10-15 minutes). Depending on the activity, you may need to sit next to them to troubleshoot, but promote independence as much as possible.

Use this block of time to write. Your child might want to paint, construct something with blocks, or make a movie. The point is to make creativity a treasured and respected process.

5. Respect Everyone’s Creative Output

If you take away only one tip, make it this one: affirm what everyone has made. Compliment the good. Praise the effort that went into it. Encourage them to keep creating.

LISTEN to your kids when they tell you about the new thing they made. Stop scrolling and give them your undivided attention while they talk about what they’ve made. Show them how we listen while others share their work.

Respect and courtesy go a long way. Give your kids time and space to follow their passions and expect them to do the same for you.

A Word on Expectations

It would be disingenuous of me to treat these tips as a checklist for creating an idyllic life where writing and parenting live in perfect harmony. I think we are most discontent when we believe perfection is something within our grasp, but no such life exists.

We feel better about our accomplishments when our expectations honor reality. Set yourself up for success by setting goals that are based on your life right now, not anyone else’s.

Create. Teach your kids to create. It will require effort and time to establish these habits, but if you play the long game, you’ll reap incredible benefits while simultaneously raising the next generation of creatives.

Tell us in the comments: Which of these ideas will you be trying with your kids this summer?

Sara Gentry has a Ph.D. in Applied and Interdisciplinary Mathematics and is a writer, homeschooling mom, and Author Accelerator certified book coach. Sara uses her analytical and logical brain to help writers corral their ideas into a cohesive and compelling narrative. She works with many types of writers, but has a soft spot for coaching mom writers who are juggling all the things.

You can find her on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The post #5onFri: Five Ways to Include Your Children in Your Writing Life This Summer appeared first on DIY MFA.

Maybe you are already meeting your reading and writing goals for the summer. But maybe not. Fortunately, at DIY MFA we have some posts that will help you read and write more this summer.

Six Ways to Write Through the Lazy Summer Days

A lot of people like to take a break during the summer. I think this is partly because we’re conditioned from kindergarten through twelfth grade (and even into college) to view those 12 weeks as the only bit of freedom from the drudgery of daily life that we get. I get it.

But I think you can still take a break from the daily grind and get some words on the page. Former DIY MFA columnist Bess McAllister first shared this article in 2014 about how you can write through the dog days of summer without losing your cool. This post is all about maximizing the fun that summer has to offer while still meeting your writing goals.

#5onFri: Five Hacks to Help You Write More This Summer

This #5onFri from former columnist Savannah Cordova offers even more tips on how to get the most out of summer and meet your goals. This post walks you through how to get your writing done early so that you can reward yourself with some pool time and a nice cool, refreshing drink (or however you like to reward yourself).

I think rewards are an excellent way to help find the motivation you need to knock out the work. Yes, writing is fun and that’s why we do it, but—let’s face it—it’s also work, so be sure to reward yourself accordingly.

Four Ways to Build Accountability into Summer Reading

I’m sure I’m not the only one here who knocked their library’s summer reading program out of the park each year! Summer is just made for reading. Whether you’re hanging out poolside or beating the heat with a nice book inside, books are a great companion. They keep your brain engaged and provide hours of entertainment.

Summer is a great time to make some headway on your mountainous TBR pile, but sometimes a little accountability helps. Check out this post by former DIY MFA columnist Terri Frank on how to meet your reading goals for the summer.

Prepare Your LGBTQ+ Summer Reading List with Ten Must-Reads

Maybe you’re wanting to get a bit more diversity in your reading list, but don’t know where to start. Let me suggest this amazing list of LGBTQ+ books put together by current DIY MFA columnist, Adam W. Burgess. 

He’s done a great job of assembling a list of books across genres for your reading pleasure. Really! There are novels, graphic novels, poetry collections, and non-fiction books on this list. Plus, with each title on the list, he provides a bit of an explanation on why it’s recommended reading.

June 2022 Leisure Learning

OK. This post just came out, but I wanted to highlight it nonetheless. Each month, columnist Melissa Haas puts together suggested resources to engage your creative brain. The things highlighted in these posts run the gamut from documentaries to digital collections and even literary video games that you should check out. I can’t tell you how much I love this fabulous monthly resource that she puts together!

The items in this list are ones you can access at home during a staycation or perhaps even use to plan a literary trip. She even includes a family-friendly pick each month for something people of all ages can enjoy. Check it out!

Be Well, Write Well: Embrace Your Season

All of the resources so far focus on the season of the year, but this post by former DIY MFA columnist Leanne Sowul is all about your season of life. Maybe summer isn’t inherently more or less busy than the other seasons of the year. That doesn’t mean you can’t develop habits and routines that help you meet your goals.

This is a great post for anybody who is considering putting together a new routine for themselves. Truth be told, it’s a reflection post I need to work through as I am on the verge of a new start and am figuring out how to structure my days so I can live the life I want to live.

Tell us in the comments: What are your summer reading and writing plans?

Lori Walker is the Operations Maven at DIY MFA. Though she’s fallen off the wagon as a writer, she’s hoping to return to writing essays (perhaps even a novel!) through her involvement with DIY MFA. She is also Launch Manager, Web Editor, and Podcast Producer for DIY MFA and a Book Coach. She resides in Smalltown, Oklahoma, with her husband and their cat, Joan Didion. You can follow her on Instagram at @LoriTheWriter.

The post Summer Round-up Post appeared first on DIY MFA.