Benefits Of Writing

By Vega Schools‘

This is the age of technology, and rightly so, if we want our children to learn 21st-century skills, we have to get them well-versed with the latest and updated technology. Adding to this, the use of technological tools and devices has been maximized as millions of children pivoted to e-learning.

One of the major drawbacks of increasing technological usage is that our keyboard has replaced our handwriting skills. We are slowly losing the benefits of writing by hand as the practice becomes less common.

Not so long ago, jotting down every small thing on a piece of paper used to be a part of our daily lives.

Remember those days when New Year and Birthdays meant handwritten cards and small notes on the fridge or work table meant reminders for important work? We used to exchange handwritten letters, notes, and journals with friends, families, and even office colleagues.

With the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic, mandatory online classes emerged as a method for current teaching and learning.

We feel that our little children are definitely missing this charm of writing over keyboard-generated texts. When we can just type everything out, writing by the park is seen as a largely unnecessary act to partake in.

Writing skills, including cursive writing, are part and parcel of language acquisition and mastery.

BRAIN DEVELOPMENT AND WRITING:

There have been many researches conducted and studies done that show the effects of writing on functional brain development during the early years of our children. When we write a letter of the alphabet, we form it component stroke by component stroke, and that process of production involves pathways in the brain that go near or through parts that manage Emotions.

Handwriting is a deeply complex motor skill that’s cognitively challenging and essential to master. Handwriting involves several brain faculties at once, including sensory, motor, and language centers of the brain, and of course our senses of hearing, sight, and touch.

The below-mentioned link has related articles supporting brain activation during letter perception (click here)Based on the research, we have listed the benefits of writing with respect to brain development, reading, learning, and the overall growth of a child.
According to research, our brain regions associated with learning are more active when we write letters and words on a sheet of paper. This way we tend to remember more information and have a better understanding of a lesson as opposed to typing on a keyboard. One study found that students who took notes by hand had a greater understanding of a lesson than those who took notes on a computer, even though they were able to type out more information.
Writing promotes cognitive development in young learners. It engages the minds of the learners during letter formation.
Writing promotes more retention of information, hence enhancing knowledge.
As writing promotes motor skills, it unleashes creativity as more parts of our brain are put to work. infact more ideas are expressed while writing.
Handwriting entails movement, from the holding of the pen to the touching of the paper to create letters; thus is considered a good sensory motor exercise.
Writing by hand may also improve a child’s memory for new information.
For older children, writing can actually calm down their brains and enhance focus.
Also, older children can use writing as an outlet to express feelings that cannot be expressed so easily by speaking, thus is therapeutic.
It also eases anxiety and frustration and enhances mental well-being.

HOW CAN PARENTS FACILITATE THE PRACTICE OF WRITING AT HOME.

Practicing writing skills at home is essential. It gives our children a chance to put their academic writing skills to practical use. But knowing how to help kids with writing isn’t always easy, so we’ve also put together a few ways parents and families can help at home. Each of these is flexible to your child’s age and skill:

Children learn and model their behavior. Hence we adults have to take the first step towards developing the culture of writing at home. From writing cute thank you notes, to pasting “things-to-do stick ons” to writing letters, we need to make sure that our children start valuing the benefits of writing.
Instead of making it look like ‘just another school chore’ for our children, we need to incorporate writing naturally into a fulfilled play.
A cozy space dedicated to writing can also garner interest in children to write their “secret mission” down!! A colorful desk with their favorite superhero/cartoon character picture can do the magic.
Before we encourage them to write, we must encourage them to draw. Drawing has a wide scope of learning and almost everything can be expressed through drawings.