Journaling Tips for Teens

Your teens and pre-teens are dealing with a lot of different emotions, and could use a 
way to release those emotions and thoughts in a safe way. Journaling can do that for 
them, and it is so flexible and easy to do, that it really is great for all adolescents. Here 
are some tips to help your teens start journaling.


Find a Journal You Love

If you want your teen to love writing, they need to love what they are writing with. This 
includes a journal or notebook that is just their style, along with some fun pens they 
choose themselves. Everyone tends to be picky about the type of pen they use, so 
definitely let them pick out some favorites.


Use Different Writing Tools, Stickers, and Embellishments

In addition to the journal and writing tools, you can get them some other tools as well. 
Teens who are on the creative side might want to add more color, doodles, or designs 
to their journal pages. This is super easy to do with colored pencils, watercolors, 
embellishments, stickers, and other similar items. These can be really inexpensive, and 
make a huge difference in how motivated your teens are to use their journal.


Keep Your Journal Private

It is really important that you make a promise to your teens that their journals will remain 
private and confidential. If they have any fears of someone (like a younger sibling) 
reading their journals, they won’t be as open and honest as they could be, which does 
diminish some of the potential benefits of this writing practice. Give them somewhere 
they can lock up their journals, or even get a diary with a key if they would feel more 
comfortable with that.


Writing Ideas

There are a lot of journal prompts out there, but many of them are geared towards 
adults. For teens and pre-teens, look for journal prompts about school, friends, getting 
ready for college, and this sort of thing. Here are some examples of great writing topics 
for teens:

What does your ideal life look like?
What do you want to major in?
What college are you interested in?
What are your future career plans?
Where you would move to if you could move anywhere after high school?
Talk about your BFFs
What subjects do you love in school?
Which subjects do you always dread?
How do you like spending your free time?
