Passing the Torch

You might be surprised to know how many of my posts here at Write Anything start with discussions with various members of my family. Then again, if you spent 20 minutes with my eldest son, and promptly lost count of the “Why does ______?” questions, you might not be so surprised. Well, all four of the little ones are 2 weeks into their 4.5 week summer break and they’re driving us crazy. I remember as a kid having to be forcibly kept in the house—sure I watched some TV—but with these kids they would be content to do nothing besides play the Wii and veg in front of the TV—most of the time food would merely be an added bonus. So we’ve put our feet down and demanded that they find some hobbies.

They have the imagination of zombies and immediately started thinking about what hobbies they’re favorite TV characters have—I kid you not. Then when they realized that TV show characters rarely have hobbies they asked us for suggestions. That’s when the oldest asked me about blogging. She’d picked up enough overhearing my sweetie and I talk abut our own blogs, to know that blogs involved writing but that was about all she knew.

So we started talking. In the last year or so she’s latched onto books in a big way, and in the last couple of months she’s been greatly enjoying the basic poems they’ve been writing in English. So we decided that she could have her own blog. Now her younger brother, all of 11, is nothing if not a follower, and he’d be apoplectic if anyone got anything he didn’t. So he had to have a blog of his own, too.

Now I may seem a little cynical about some of their reasons for having a blog, but I certainly take seriously the prospect of passing on the love of writing to my little ones. I’m not sure what they’ll use their blogs for, of even if they’ll use them for more than a few days. I spent a few minutes finding a template that fit their personalities, and a little while longer showing them how to use the software.

And as anxious as I am to help them share my love of the written word, I am also apprehensive about setting my little ones loose in the blogging world. Not only are there nefarious sorts out there who would take advantage of young children, but there are also honest people who can crush a young one’s spirit before they even realize they’re trashing the poem of a 13-year-old. So for now I’m keeping control of their blogs with me—I’ll see everything that gets posted, I’ll screen every comment.

So if you’d like to help two fledgling writers along, feel free to click on over to their blogs and leave an encouraging word, as they start down what I hope is a long, rewarding path.

Dale lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his fiancée and four step-children, and spends a good portion of his time trying to locate an absent muse. You can read about him, his family and his struggles at Rough Draft.