Children’s minds are powerhouses of action. There are many thoughts running through their heads all the time! Some of them are creative, some of them wonderous, some thoughts are confusing, some ambitious!

Well, this is true for all of us! But especially when it comes to kids and teens, channelizing their thoughts towards positive action needs a little prompting from parents, too!

Or else, they need a bullet journal!

What is a bullet journal?

It is an interactive diary, originally designed by Ryder Carroll. A bullet journal is an organized way of keeping a record of everything that’s happening in your life. It helps you direct your thoughts toward positive actions using pointers that nudge you to write down your thoughts and feelings, set goals, plan your week and month, manage daily tasks, and even track and set new habits.

Why is bullet journaling good for kids?

For starters, it helps them break down their thoughts and emotions into manageable goals and action points. What did they love about the day? What upset them today? It maps their feelings for them to work it out in their minds in easy installments.

It helps them keep a record of their goals and achievements in an organized fashion. The journal is designed creatively to help them answer things like: What is my goal for the month? What do I want to achieve this month? This kind of record-keeping allows kids to track their progress in a quantifiable manner, in short-term lots.

It helps children plan for the future – in a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual format. They can make daily entries and track their progress. In six months, I want to…/ What did I do today to make me feel good? Studies have proved this is an effective method to follow when trying to set a habit or make a life change.

It has been scientifically proved that journaling is a good habit for both teens and adults as it makes way for positive mental health as they grow older. So, encouraging kids to keep a journal can help them master these skills at a young age. This will make them more self-aware by letting them be in touch with their feelings, surroundings, and also their actions.

What should a good bullet journal have?

A good bullet journal should have lots of spaces for the writer to express their creativity and personalize it. The idea is to nurture positive self-love. It must have motivational nudgers, inspirational quotes, spaces to doodle, draw, and color (some kids express their feelings through drawings), activities to break down goals into daily achievable challenges, and more.

It should also have space for kids to include their family as much as possible, by prompting them to share fun family things they did together, holiday goals, even anxious or worrisome times they faced with family members, and reasons for that.

These days, there are various themed journals available in the market – both as digital downloads and printed books. The Happy Me Journal, for instance, is all about getting children to get creative with their thinking, and help them set and achieve goals. It also helps them set new habits and modify behavior by tracking their moods, the reasons why they felt happy, sad, or angry, etc.

By 

Jyothi Prabhakar