Journal Writing

Journal writing is a favored practice of writers, a centuries-old occupation around the world. Why do writers keep journals? What do they write in their journal? Should you keep a journal? I think that anyone who enjoys writing should keep a journal. Take a look and see how you might benefit from this activity.

Journal writing can serve many purposes.

A journal is akin to a diary, in that it is generally a “private” book, where you put down thoughts and ideas, ponder on life, write down a joke you heard today, mull over a problematic situation, or maybe just plain vent. Journal writing can give you an opportunity to express yourself on topics you may not have the chance or inclination to talk about with someone else. This type of journal writing may, over time, give you a fresh perspective on yourself and others.

Which brings us to another benefit of journal writing. Ultimately, journal writing is therapeutic. A journal can be stream of consciousness. After all, your audience is you. You can express yourself exactly as you feel. You tend not to mince words, as you might with your boss who's just unfairly chastised you. Journal writing is an uncensored activity, giving you an uncensored look at yourself.

You can also approach journal writing as a developmental exercise. If you'd like to improve your writing skills, keeping a journal helps you hone your skills.

Whether you're a student or experienced writer, give yourself a daily writing challenge. For example, a student might benefit by writing a short composition each day, to improve skill and speed for English assignments. A more experienced writer may find persuasive pieces an asset in copy writing. A writer fascinated with character development as an element of the novel can use journal writing to explore different techniques.

You can use journal writing as pure relaxation and therapy. Everyone's got issues that particularly pique their curiosity or get their goat! A journal is the perfect medium to explore your own mind.

Perhaps you're a great cook and read every food magazine you can find. Maybe you'd like to write a cook book. Get a journal and your recipes, and write magazine-style articles about each. This could be a gift for a child going off to college, your personal family cookbook, or the next Junior League cookbook. You may even end up enjoying the project so much, you'll submit one of your articles to a magazine for publication.

Poets are usually introspective and philosophically oriented. Journal writing helps you focus and refine your thoughts such that a new poem results from the musings.

Whatever your interests, journal writing can be educational, therapeutic, and a lot of fun. A journal can be as simple as a spiral notebook or as elegant as a leather-bound formal journal. If you enjoy writing, give it a shot. You may find you have a lot to say!

Child Support Law

We live in a society that no longer holds long term relationships in esteem. Many years ago it was almost impossible to get a divorce so people lived out years in unhappy unhealthy relationships. Today people are encouraged to move on and out of a marriage or relationship at the first sign of unhappiness. Hopefully in the future there will be some type of happy medium. I say this because being in the social services field I see how break ups of marriage and relationships affect the children.

Most people say that they do not want the government or courts involved in their lives, yet because people refuse to take responsibility for the lives that they bring into this world we have had to develop child support laws. Because a great number of non-custodial parents want to turn their backs on their children the child support laws have had to become more complicated and punitive. The result is that many responsible people have had to pay more than their fair share because of those that refuse to pay anything. This results in hard feelings and again, the children are left to suffer.

Through my years of working in the social services field I have seen parents use their children as pawns during divorce proceedings and custody battles. I have seen parents that have little or no interest in raising their children fight for custody to avoid paying the child support to their former partner. Some children are able to tell me how much child support their parent pays and or how much they owe. This is information that should never be shared with a child. It stands in their way of being able to have a nurturing child parent relationship with both parents. The child support laws and the amount of support that is determined by the courts should be between the parents.

I have also seen parents question their children about what articles of clothing they have or what they eat when they are with the other parent. This is a way for them to determine if the child support is going to the child’s needs. I have also heard parents tell their children that they will not give them money for a special need, because that is suppose to come out of the child support payments. People that have brought children into this world need to step up to the plate and take the responsibility to follow the child support laws. Children deserve to have their care needs met, without fearing that they will lose the love or time of one of their parents. Children are not pawns for people to use to extract revenge on a former partner.