How to Use Journaling Prompts to Connect With Your Child

In a season of busy schedules, changing emotions, and growing independence, it can be tough to find meaningful moments of connection with your teen or tween. Whether they are navigating the highs and lows of middle school or standing at the threshold of high school, you may feel them pulling away just as you're trying to connect more.

That’s where journaling can help you connect with your child! While writing our feelings is not a solution to "fix" anything, it can be used as a low-pressure way to open the lines of communication. Journaling is proven to be effective for deeper connection, better understanding, and building a relationship based on trust and curiosity, not just check-ins, curfews, and house rules. 

Why does journaling work to help you connect with your child?

Shared journaling is more than a writing exercise. It offers a private window into what your child is thinking and feeling, and allows you to reflect on how you're showing up in the relationship, too.

Shared journaling provides the space for:

• Honesty, especially when it’s hard to say things out loud

• Time to reflect without judgment

• Daydreaming, reminiscing, and curiosity

• A low-pressure way to reconnect, especially during the tricky stages

When you share a journal, you're telling each other “I want to know you. I care about your thoughts. I’m here to listen.” 

What do you need to start a shared journal to connect with your child?

You don’t need anything fancy to begin. Here’s what I recommend:

• A bound journal or printable journal (like my free download Stories Between Us)

• Pens, markers, or colored pencils for creative expression

If you're using my printable shared journal, it already has a variety of prompts ready for you to start journaling but if you are creating your own, rotate between these types of questions:

• Memory-based prompts

• Imaginative “what if” questions

• Reflections on feelings or challenges

• Lighthearted, get-to-know-you fun

• Shared goal setting or dreaming

Lighthearted journal prompt ideas

What’s the most random fun fact you know?

What’s a snack that everyone else loves but you secretly don’t?

If you could swap lives for a day, what would you do in each other’s shoes?

If you could invent a holiday, what would it be and how would we celebrate it?

Deeper connection journal prompt ideas

How do you show people you care about them?

What helps you feel calm when you’re overwhelmed?

Describe a moment when you felt really brave.

What are three qualities you admire in each other?

How to begin shared journaling with your child?

There’s no perfect way to use journaling prompts. What matters most is that it feels safe, nonjudgmental, and like a shared ritual, not a homework assignment. Here are a few ways you can adapt journaling into your relationship.

1. Exchange Journaling

Pass the journal back and forth at your leisure. Maybe you leave it on their nightstand, and they leave it on yours. This approach takes the pressure off real-time conversations and allows for more thoughtful responses.

2. Prompt Pick

Let your child pick the question, or take turns choosing a prompt. Giving them some control over the topic they're in the mood for makes the journaling process feel collaborative and respectful.

3. Creativity Welcome

Encourage doodles, poems, collages, or song lyrics, not everything needs to be written out. Especially for neurodivergent kids or kids who process differently, allowing a variety of ways for communication can open doors to more authentic expression.

4. Reflect and Revisit

You can revisit the same question weeks or months later and notice how the answers shift and grow. Let that evolution be part of the journey.

5. Heed Expectations

Not every question will spark a long response. Journaling isn’t about volume. It’s about showing up and offering a space that says, I’m here. I’m listening. I see you. You can model that by sharing your own responses vulnerably and without expecting a certain outcome.

Ready to get started? Download my FREE shared journal resource!

Stories Between Us is a free printable shared journal I created that is designed to help parents and their kids share stories, ask meaningful questions, and connect in a deeper way, one page at a time.

[Insert Download Link]

Check out these related posts:

Top Books for Parents and Teens Recommended by a Licensed Therapist

How to Help Teens and Tweens Regulate Overwhelming Emotions