As you've probably noticed by now, life gets harder as you get older, and your feelings about things get bigger and bigger. Sometimes you feel happy, sometimes you feel frustrated, sometimes you feel bored, and sometimes you feel alone. One of the best and most fun ways to deal with all these different feelings is to write them down. Now You've Got Me Thinking is the perfect place to record your thoughts and feelings. If you have kept a diary before and thought it was fun for a day or two but then gradually lost interest or couldn't think of things to write, this journal is for you. Each day, it asks you a few questions to spark some thoughts. Some of the questions are funny or weird, and others are more serious. Some days you will be in the mood for the fun parts, and other days you might just need a place to write down your feelings to help you begin to sort through some tricky problems. Either way, Now You've Got Me Thinking offers the best place to start your life as a diary keeper. Have fun and answer quirky questions about yourself.

Now You've Got Me Thinking

A Guided Journal for GirlsBy Susanna Blake Murphy

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Susanna Blake Murphy
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-7311-4

Introduction

Your daughter is growing up. It is a joy to see her becoming a mature and independent young person. However, one sad reality is that, as our children grow, they also begin to encounter confusing situations that challenge their sense of self-worth and test their moral compasses. To make matters even more complicated, it is just at the age when they begin to experience these new, intricate scenarios that they also become more private. As a result, the preteen years can be a confusing and lonely time, especially for girls.

This journal can be a very helpful tool for girls approaching these tumultuous years. Experts throughout the world have recognized the value of keeping a journal. Journaling can help individuals sort through thorny issues. The actual process of putting pen to paper can be a cathartic experience that allows one to release the emotions building inside of her. Additionally, by going back and reading what one has written, one can look at the situation a little more objectively and gain some perspective.

Children can enjoy these tremendous benefits that come from journaling just as much as adults. The tricky part for children (and, in fact, for many adults new to journaling) is figuring out topics on which to write. Journaling does not come naturally to many. This journal, however, simultaneously makes journaling fun for the younger population and subtly and gradually trains girls in the art of journaling.

Your daughter will explore a range of topics on her journey through this journal. Each day, she will be called upon to complete six standard sentences. These standard, or repeated, sentences encourage your child to reflect upon topics that will bolster her self-esteem, make her consider ways in which she can improve upon herself, and prompt her to appreciate what she has.

Following the standard sentences, each day the journal will offer three new and creative sentences for your daughter to complete. At least one of these sentences covers a silly topic meant primarily to keep her engaged and having fun. The two remaining sentences are more probing and geared toward getting your daughter to reflect more deeply. For example, one day the journal states, "One thing my parents don't know about me is ..." This sentence is followed by another that begins, "If I told them, they would probably ..." These types of topics may well prompt careful reflection by your daughter and eventually result in her realizing that sharing such a secret might be more useful and less difficult than she initially thought.

Special efforts have been made in the creation of this journal to make it appealing to its target audience. It is written in an informal manner that is familiar, comfortable, and fun for girls. The font is whimsical, and the serious topics are interspersed with the frivolous. This is all by design. In order to get children of this age group to really want to get involved in this process, it is important that it be engaging. If the child feels that she is being given an assignment by a parent, she is more likely to resist participating or, at least, resist immersing herself in the process. Perhaps not realizing she is being called upon to reflect and self-evaluate will help her to accomplish just that.

This book is a tremendous gift to any girl. By giving this book to a girl you know, you will be helping her build her self-esteem, appreciate what life is offering her, and sort through situations and emotions that can escalate and whirl out of control when left alone in her mind. You will be introducing this child to a lifetime of productive self-reflection. It is an invaluable gift.

Let's Get This Party Started!

Welcome to the Now You've Got Me Thinking: A Guided Journal for Now You've Got Me Thinking: A Guided Journal for Girls. So, you probably know what a journal is—a diary, right? And I'm guessing this may not be your first journal, but it will be your first real journal. Sure, you might have been given a journal before, where you haven't really known what to write. Because keeping a journal can be so much fun, you might have gotten excited when you first got it and filled in a page or two. But you probably couldn't always think of what to write, so you stopped writing in it, and it finally ended up under your bed, where it collected a lot of the cat's fur. (Why is cat's fur so awesome when it is actually on your cat rubbing against your cheek when you are going to bed, but so totally gross when it is all balled up and stuck to your old journal when it hangs out under your bed for too long?)

Anyhow, the Now You've Got Me Thinking: A Guided Journal for Girls is totally different from any journal you have seen or used before. This one helps you figure out cool stuff to write. It will start with some fun sentences that you'll have an awesome time finishing. (You might even want to use some of these questions for a party game with your closest girlfriends!) This is a place where you can share some great stories, express your worries, and even work out some problems for yourself. You can tell your most private secrets, because this book is just for you.

Here is how it works. Each day gets three pages. Like one of those boring old little kids' journals, or grownups' journals, you start each day with today's date. You've got to have that because it'll be fun to look back at it later and know when it was that you were talking about. And it starts with a little section, "Today I ..." That's where you write a little bit about what happened to you today. You know, "Went to school, got there on time for once. It was raining, so had to have indoor recess ... BORING ... Had gymnastics after school and then did my homework ..." So, that's pretty basic, right? Not much different from those other diaries?

Well, this ultracool journal helps you write some more stuff and really gets you thinking. (See why it's called the Now You've Got Me Thinking: A Guided Journal for Girls?) See, then every day it asks you a few questions that will get you to think about your day a little bit more and help you figure out what to write about. Like: I am proud about ... "At gymnastics, I finally made it to the top of the climbing rope and rang the bell. It was really fun, and I was super excited because I have been trying to get all the way up that darn thing since last year and now I finally did it—yeah me!" See? I bet you wouldn't have thought to write about that in one of those old, blank journals. So, there are a few of those questions that you'll get every day. If you don't want to answer all of them every day, then don't ... but give it a try. I bet most days you'll be able to think of something to write.

Then there is room at the end of those sections to get into more details about something big that happened. That's where it says: Now I also need to tell you about ... That might be where you write about a worry you're having or a fight that two friends of yours are having. If you write about it, sometimes it will help you sort it out.

Finally, on the third page of each date there are three extras. These are the fun, party game–type topics that really get you thinking, like, If I were an animal I would be a ... "bird, because I love, love, love to sing and fly around and play, but then I think it's pretty cool just to hang out in my bedroom,...