Easy Tips to Help a Child Write Mom a Mother's Day Poem

First off, ALWAYS make sure to let the child do all of the writing him/herself. This is the most important thing ever. The point of this poem is so that the child can express his feelings however he sees fit. Which means you aren't changing any words. Give suggestions, but keep them vague.

Now that we've set up that rule, make sure what your child writes is appropriate. Older children especially have a knack for hearing things, and then not knowing when is the wrong time to say it. So don't tell them to go write a poem and leave them to do it, but take an active role. Inspire them (more details below), and then let them write. But make sure to check the first draft, and all future drafts, before it gets presented. Treat it like a teacher-student sort of thing. Don't be afraid be to criticize what they've written, but make sure to break it gently.

Inspiration. The hardest part. First off, remind your child that Mother's day is fast approaching, and that they should do something for their mother. Suggest a poem, or a card, or something of the sort. If your child seems even vaguely interested, you've stuck gold. Tell them to pen whatever ideas they have, and then show you, so you can help them. If they're stuck entirely, then get the rolling- have them think of different reasons they love their mother, different things that make them think of her. Maybe the smell of some flower reminds them of her shampoo, some favorite food reminds them of her cooking. Or it could be something more personal, some childhood memory that's likely to trigger a response, hopefully a pleasant one. Try to stick to only definitely happy things, things likely to make the child and hopefully the mother laugh out loud.

Once they finish brainstorming reasons they love their mother, they now have a list of ideas to write a poem about. Choose some sort of central theme, or one favorite memory, or the best reason. Or rather, help your child choose this. Ask them what is most important, most endearing to them out of the whole list. Then get started writing. Tell the child to write a few sentences, however much they can, about that memory, and maybe connect it to a few other as well.

Read your child's sentences. And show them where they can add imagery, key words that help show feeling and also portray the senses. For example, if the child writes," I love my mother's cooking," ask them to write what food, what it smells like, what it looks like, what it tastes like, what it reminds them of....as many details as possible. So it may get long. But it'll all be worth it in the end. Then, once this is done, start breaking the sentences up into fragments, or at least change the line-spacing so it begins to look more poem. This is something that you may have to show the child how yo do, breaking up sentences at natural pauses, and at places where idea's end.

Children are best off writing rhyming poetry, with a simple aabb rhyme scheme (the first line rhymes with the second, the third with the fourth, and so on. Free verse is a possibility for older children, but they simply don't have the language to to get the same feeling out. The point of this poem is to show that time was spent, that the mother is cared for, and also purely for the joy of writing. and rhyming poetry is one of the most fun for children to read, since much fun can be had with the words. It's also tricky, since they have to make the lines rhyme, which means some words may have to be changed. A resource that may be of much value at this point is a rhyming dictionary. You could buy one, but you may be better off using an online rhyming dictionary. My personal favorite is http://rhymezone.com. You can find many more variants by simply searching for "rhyme dictionary" on Google.

So phrase the first line how you want it, and then plug the last word into the rhyme dictionary and try and find words to end the second line with. This tends to get tricky, so use pencil, and you may want a few Tylenol as well. Be prepared to change around the placement of lines, and also to add in lines to help the rhyme scheme to work out. This is essential, and immensely difficult. Mostly if you haven't written poetry since your highschool english classes. Make sure, though, that you child is doing most of the writing, and that all of the ideas are their own. Only help them out if they have tricky words, or some grammatical issues, etcetera. Speaking of grammar, feel free to throw it out the window. Poems aren't essays, and don't have to be written like them. So if you need to say "me and my mom" rather then the proper "my mother and I, " don't break a sweat. It's fine. As long as it rhymes and has some meaning to it, you're in the clear.

Once you finalise the poem, you're done to the final step. Making it presentable. Consider getting some fancy paper and having it printed up really nicely, if you can afford the dent in your budget. Or if you pursue calligraphy, write it fancily on heavier paper. But the best option, to stay true to the whole project, is to let the child write it. Tell them to take their time, and see that it is as legible as possible. Don't used lined paper, since it looks very tacky for such a special occasion. Rather, you could use a ruler to make sure that they write straight and even. Pencil lines very faintly on the paper, then erase them so that it looks like nothing was there. Have the child draw some pictures, color it, maybe used different colored markers or pens or crayons for the words. Whatever they want to do.

And then on Mother's Day, wake mommy up with a steaming hot breakfast in bed, a rose or two, and two poems. Your child's, and yours of course!