10 things to write in a mother-daughter journal this week

My daughter is a ball of energy; she is 7. When she comes home from school, I am often working. Being a freelancer is fun, but you still have work and deadlines every day. I spend some time asking her about her day at school, and sometimes all I get is, “School was fun, or we had so much to write”. But I wanted small girls’ gossip. I wanted to know all about kids these days, what they like, what they play. But I think she doesn’t have the energy to say it all at once. She tells me these things in increments. She shares these at the most random times. while combing her, while I am half asleep, when she is doing her homework, while I am driving or working.

To be honest, sometimes I listen half-heartedly. I will be in the middle of something, and she will suddenly pop up and share something that happened at her school, and she will pop out. I have zero processing time. And sometimes it takes me a minute to even figure out what she’s talking about. Also, it is very hard to keep track of all the stories that are coming out of her mouth. That’s when I decided to write.

The Start of this journey

I had a diary growing up. But I used important things, the good and bad, experiences that made me happy and sad. I did not like to write everyday mundane stuff. But I gave my a book, and asked her to write whatever she wanted to express about her day. But she,e being the kid she is, did not approve that idea. Her mind is working faster than she can express. She wants to let it all out in one flow, in one single breath if possible and run back to whatever it is she was doing. Sooo, that did not work. I tried writing it for her, but again, she was not having it. She did not have the patience to sit through the process of her narrating and my writing. That’s when I came across journals. That’s when I decided we needed a mother-daughter journal.

Our Mother-Daughter Journaling Ritual

Journals are very interesting and fun to use, if you use them the way they’re meant to be, aka the way you want. I went searching the internet for journal-style writing prompts that are short and crisp, and answers that are interesting for her. I noted a few questions down, and we started working on them every day. This became an everyday ritual for us. Just a few questions a day for both of us to answer. It also made her know my day and my work (not the boring corporate stuff, of course, just the fun ones).

So, for all the moms and dads out there, if you are looking to start something similar, these are the mother-daughter journal ideas we come back to most.

1. What made you smile this week? Simple enough for any age. Teaches her to notice the good things. You write yours, she writes hers, and then you read them to each other. Or in my case, sometimes I write it for her, she narrates, I write!
2. Something I want you to know about me. This is the one that surprises people. Kids reveal things in writing they would never say out loud. You will learn something new about your daughter almost every time. To make her write, I tell her this is a secret, and she has to write it down for me.
3. A worry I’ve been carrying. Create a safe space for the hard stuff. When she sees you write your own worry down, it gives her permission to do the same. Vulnerability is modelled, not taught.
4. My favourite thing we did together recently. This anchors the relationship in shared memory. Even a small thing, a drive, a snack, a show you watched together, becomes meaningful when it is written down.
5. Something I’m proud of you for. Write this for her. Let her write it for you. It lands differently on paper than it does spoken in passing.
6. A question I have always wanted to ask you. Open-ended and surprising. You’ll get questions you never expected. Some funny, some deep. This is often the prompt that makes both of you laugh. Every week it’s something new. Why do you have a black tattoo- why not blue? Why do you always wake up late on Sundays? Let’s just say she never fails to surprise me with her questions.
7. What does a perfect day look like for you? Dreams change as kids grow. Capturing this every few months becomes a beautiful time capsule of who she was at each age.
8. Something hard that happened, and what I learned. This builds emotional resilience gently. Framing difficulty as a learning moment is a habit worth starting early. Every question has a sharing and a learning for both of us.
9. A person I’m grateful for right now, and why? Gratitude practice that extends beyond the two of you. Often leads to lovely conversations about friendships, teachers, and grandparents.
10. What I hope for us this month. Forward-looking and connective. You’re building something together, not just recording the past.

Also, you don’t have to use all ten. Start with one. The right prompt is whichever one makes her look up from whatever she’s doing.

How to Use These Prompts

First, there is no right way to do this. It’s all about what works for you and your daughter. To be honest, at the beginning, I did not make her sit and do all this in one go. I used her style. I popped up these prompts in no particular order, at random, whenever we are together, while having dinner, before bed, while combing her hair. And in no time she understood that it’s our little ritual (our fun activity, she calls it). Subsequently, she started to look forward to those questions every day, and that’s when she decided to sit and write. The goal was never a perfect journal. It was a reason to sit down together. These prompts gave us that.

Lastly, if you want a structured space for prompts like these, I made a guided mother-daughter journal with 110 pages of weekly prompts, goal-setting spaces, and room to doodle. It comes as a digital download; print it and have fun with your daughter. You can find both the pastel and pink versions here!

Want to print just the prompts? Download the free prompt card here