Writing with Juliet Iwelunmor

My daughter writes. Not things simple, like “How are you,” but things complex like “I am well and I hope the same for you given these moments we find ourselves in.” Everything she writes is like an epiphany of sorts, of what can happen when you teach the love for writing early. Each sentence, each story, each essay she writes is like raindrops falling on a hot summer day. The drops keep falling. It’s not heavy and it’s not light. And for children like her who write, they see everything, know many things too. So I keep calm hoping that the road be far for her journey through life so long as no troubles are encountered.

We cleaned out our closet this evening and my sixth grade daughter came across a series of stories written in the 4th grade. This was perhaps one of our toughest grade with bullying and being a semi-new student following the pandemic and like any researcher, I taught my daughter the power of expressive writing as an evidence-based intervention to withstand all the troubles that 4th grade may bring.

Last week I shared with a couple of colleagues how I prefer teaching the gift of writing to my children than extra curricular activities like sports. I was never a sports child so I can’t really relate to all the practice and never ending activities. But writing was my thing and my father nurtured it as best as he could that today I see myself continuing where my father left off. Writing will be tough but it’s one skill that every child will need past their childhood. So why not nurture the love for it now. She is still writing and these days it’s a hero essay about her dad or a series of short stories about a fictitious street inspired by Gwendolyn Brooks. The ‘by’ or the naming of the author of the book with their name gets me. I love how it teaches that they too matter and can begin their contribution to the in between of life now. We are already born, Toni Morrison once said. We will die. So do something interesting you respect in between. For me, it’s this love of writing that I see in my daughter, that I still use with my own life’s work with grant writing. Keep it.