Kids struggling to hold pencils thanks to too much tech

It’s all a bit scripted.

1 Like

May I ask when you were in school? There is no doubt there was a lot of misinformation and horrible attempts to switch lefties to righties and other horrible things. I’m sorry that happened. I should clarify that while there are a range of good grips, there are also a number of ways of gripping that are harmful. I wish more teachers were trained in working with students compassionately around those issues.

1 Like

How will they do math? Sure, if it is simple text, typing will do fine, but how do they write mathematical notation? Do we teach kids LaTeX?

From pre-K and K in the mid 70’s on, no one ever tried to make me switch hands, but no one ever taught me that there was a better way to hold the pen than in the crab claw grip, either.

1 Like

Yea, the better solution is to turn the page, even up to 90 degrees. But what kids come up with themselves is usually the hook.

I noticed my left handed son and ended up at that exact google page… but… well he is stubborn in all things, so I could not get him to switch at all, even though he was just learning to write letters.

There are several problems. The visibility problem, the smearing, but also the fact that a lefty ends up trying to push their pencil into the paper, rather than dragging it behind, which will tend to make it dig in occasionally.

In the good news, they don’t teach cursive anymore. :slight_smile:

2 Likes

…is it going to be a sweaty problem… or just slippery

Which is odd, as that kind can also use chisels as screwdrivers. Or maybe they are using both chisels and screwdrivers as rocks. I have recently found one of my chisels has been used for mixing plaster or something.

Hell is too good for them.

2 Likes

Or Torx, I like those. Not Philips. Designed to cam out at too much torque? If I want a torque limit, I’ll use a tool that imlements one. The fastener slipping from the tool is not a proper way to do that. That’s how you destroy tools and fasteners.

Maybe by using them to pry they might break that way, but as a chisel? :thinking:

That is really awful. No one should have treated you that way.

1 Like

Kids struggling to hold pencils thanks to too much tech

But pencils are technology. And they’ve ruined our children! Why, because of pencils, kids now don’t even learn how to shout across to the next valley. And how many of us can recall entire epic poems, or list from memory all of our forebears for dozens of generations back? We have lost our skills, I tell you. This terrible pencil development should have been quashed from the start!

10 Likes

This is actually something my husband and I discussed. We both have left-handers in the family and our child’s godfather is also left-handed. So we’ve discussed how we’ll need to find somewhere to get more education if our child turns out left handed or, like my brother, ambidextrous. She’s young, so its hard to tell. Some days she favors her right, others her left. We just let her do whatever is most comfortable for her.

Crayons! I love crayons. We bought the Melissa and Doug triangle crayons for our kid at 1 year. She mostly tries to eat them. Luckily, they are really tough crayons so she doesn’t get very far. She finds the whole crayon-making-a-mark-on-paper thing fascinating.

Hmm. I’d read about using my finger to follow the words as our child gets older, but more as a word recognition thing. oh well. one more reason to do it.

2 Likes

That’s a fair point. My son struggles with this. He knows the material, but bungles the handwriting (full disclosure…I had the same problem when I was his age). But the amount you need to write to solve an algebra problem is way less than what you need for an essay.

Isn’t that what chisels are mainly used for? (Honestly, I have no idea what happened, it certainly could have been from prying. I’m just sad because I’ve never before or since had screwdrivers whose handles were as good. Bahco changed to a new design that is still good but inferior to the old design, which I’d first tried at this exhibit.)

Chisels are meant for cutting or splitting. A prybar is meant for prying. The two different types of chisel are made completely differently. The cutting kind–think woodworking–are made of a high carbon steel so they hold an edge. The splitting kind are made of a softer steel which can withstand impact. Pry bars are going to be made of a hardened steel so that they don’t bend or break.

Pry bars make good makeshift hammers.

1 Like

You might enjoy Witold Rybczynski’s history of the screwdriver.

Fair warning, although it is engagingly well written, it is exactly as titled, an entire book on the history of screws and screwdrivers. Not everyone’s cuppa!

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.