Show Notes

THE BENEFITS OF ART JOURNALING

In this second installment of a two-part series on Art Journaling, Lauri Getlan-Watson and I talk about what it looks like for our tweens and teens to use Art Journaling.

It’s a strategy that can benefit our middle schoolers (and us!) in so many ways. Here are some of the reasons you might want to have them try it:

• It helps kids navigate all the issues that come up during this time of development
• It inspires them to express themselves creatively
• Art Journaling also helps parents and teachers connect with tweens and teens in a more meaningful way

But here’s the thing: we don’t want to force our tweens and teens to share with us.

In my conversation with Lauri on the podcast, we talk about how to invite your kiddos to share – and how to respond when they don’t want to.

THE STRATEGY OF ART JOURNALING

Creating an Art Journal is an incredible strategy to not only use with our teens and tweens but perhaps to use ourselves. I know I’m inspired to try it! This is no surprise, to those of you who’ve been with me for a while – Journaling is totally my thing.

Given that it’s my jam, I also wanted to mention a couple of things here in support of this method.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATIVITY

I am a huge Brene Brown fan, and she talks a lot about the connection between creativity and being healthy, both physically and emotionally. One of her quotes that really sticks with me is this: “Creativity is the key to how things travel from the head to the heart to the hands.”

Creativity is the way we process things, absorb them into our beliefs and values, and live them out. If we’re not creating in some manner, then we’re not processing and living out the important things in our lives.

THAT is why it is so important to help our middle schoolers tap into their creativity and use strategies like Art Journaling to process their feelings – and then communicate with us.

If they want to.

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