Please see the links below.  They will educate you on the positive effect "Journal writing" really does have:

http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr144.shtml

http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr064.shtml

http://www.psychologymatters.org/pennebaker.html

http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun02/writing.html

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/130.cfm

Dr. T. Berry Brazelton
Touchpoints: Strengthening Families, Building Communities
Monday, June 30, 8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.

Raising a child has never been easy. Today, it is more challenging than ever. Parents want to encourage their children to believe in themselves, yet must struggle to prepare them for a competitive world that they must face before they are ready. Working harder than ever, parents are also more alone than ever. For many, safe backyards, the support of neighbors, relatives, and family traditions, are distant memories. Parents need time for their families, more time than they have, someone to turn to with their children’s baffling behavior, and a community to rely on.

Based on T.B. Brazelton’s pioneering infant research, and more than 60 years of listening to parents and children, Touchpoints is a way of understanding and participating in family development. This approach empowers parents to discover their effectiveness as parents, guiding them through their children’s predictable crises (Touchpoints) to support their children’s self-esteem and readiness to learn and to take on the world.

Libraries are well positioned to establish partnerships with community agencies serving young children and families, bringing together child and family development expertise and resources, with space, program and resource materials so that families can be together in a safe and welcoming environment, where awareness for the importance of early learning can be increased, access for families to services and resources can be expanded, and parent/caregiver abilities to meet the needs of their very young children can be enhanced.