TCG Mother/Daughter Journals
Supplies Needed:
Blank journals
Stickers
Markers
Washi tape
Other Craft supplies
Shrinky Dink plastics
Microwave
Suggested Book: Just Between Us, A No-stress, No-rules Journal for Girls and Their Moms by Meredith and Sophie Jacobs.
Charcuterie boards or finger foods
Goal: To make a journal that can be passed back and forth between mother and daughter so that each can communicate with the other in a fun and meaningful way.
Set up workstations with blank journals, stickers, markers, washi tape, and any other craft supplies you choose.
After mothers and daughters are seated, read from the book “Just Between Us, a no-stress, no-rules journal for girls and their moms”, by Meredith and Sophie Jacobs.
Read parts of “a daughter’s perspective” and “a mother’s perspective”, where the authors reveal their personal relationships and thoughts between a mother and teenage daughter.
Discuss the importance of healthy mother/daughter relationships and how that even in good relationships, teen and young adult years can be filled with many emotions, misunderstandings, and even arguments. At times, communication can be difficult.
These journals offer a means to bring up hard subjects and accomplish difficult
conversations.
Both mom and daughter will decorate a journal that can be traded back and forth by leaving them in a predesignated place, only known to each of them.
Suggestions are:
* A particular dresser drawer
* Under their pillow
* In a shoe box, etc.
* In a cabinet
Encourage each to ask the other questions, share their heart, or just simply communicate.
Take time for moms and girls to decorate the front of their journals utilizing crafting supplies at the different stations.
Spread ModPodge over journal fronts to add protection from much handling and to preserve artwork.
While ModPodge is drying, have moms and girls make bookmarks using Shrinky Dink plastic and ribbons.
Have each draw and decorate a heart, cutting them down the middle into two parts (line can be straight or jagged).
Cut a small slit in the top of each side of the heart for ribbon.
Bake Shrinky Dinks in microwave. After the plastic has cooled, add a length of ribbon through slit and staple to hold in place (see picture).
Lesson Submitted by Michelle Goebel
TCG Club – Wisconsin
Note from Michelle:
I want to revive the lost art of journaling and written communication. If we can learn to think about what we say before we say it out loud or act on our feelings, I feel that we can save a lot of heartache and hurt feelings.
I told my club how my mother loved me and taught me so many things, most importantly, how to know God. I also talked about my daughters and how there are still so many things I want to tell them, but sometimes I don’t get a chance face to face. With a journal, I can write it down anytime I want, and I know she will see it at some point.
So many relationships between mothers and daughters were mended and made right that day.
My hope was to build a bridge that they could cross over and over again to each other’s heart during tumultuous adolescent years.
I received a lot of feedback from the moms, thanking me for opening a door to their daughter’s world and giving them a communication tool.
If I can encourage girls to talk to their moms and have a great relationship with them, it helps them communicate, and love a God they cannot see, talk to Him, and want to have a relationship with Him.
This is a picture of my and my daughter’s journals that we made that day:
