In a recent encounter with an educator, she brought up the importance for young children to pick up a pen and to write, to formulate a paragraph in their developing brains, and composing it on a sheet of paper. A proven link that connects your senses which is drastically different from speaking, or typing.
I cannot be more pleased to hear that. In my recent saunters to one of my favourite local treasure mines where one finds a curated collection of vintage collectibles, home goods, festive decorations, and most importantly an array of handpicked books. I picked up a paperback by George Orwell, “Why I Write”. He described early on in this small read that “… I could not do the work of writing a book, or even a long magazine article, if it were not also an aesthetic experience.” This may just be a sentence of little weight for some, yet it aligns with my philosophy completely and it applies to almost everything that I (try to) do. As a parent, we always want to instill the good in our children, and by now we should all agree that by purely telling, instructing, commandeering, can only get us so far, and if I cannot rely solely on the ask, I should go about it with something I’m truly passionate about – aesthetic.
For starter, I want them to find it special when they’re engaged in a journaling experience, a ceremony wouldn’t be farfetched. And as I find myself more on a plane or hotel room in different cities, the self-imposed pressure for bringing home souvenirs of quality has become insurmountable, coupled with the fact that I don’t often find myself with a ton of free time at my disposal exploring the town as I strive to strike a balance between selfish pleasure, business affairs, and family; this means I have to be very targeted with the time I have.
Historically I would look for local storied coffee shopsand secondhand bookstores, now it has shifted to places where they sell fountain pens and accessories. My most successful souvenirs yet were from my trip to the East Coast of Canada and acquired several Kakünos by Pilot for the young souls. They were in different cheerful colours which helps with evading the conflict of argument of which one is whose, the nibs were heartily embossed with distinct smiley facial expressions which matched their reactions when they received them. They can tell these were gifts of quality, on par with what I use every morning yet much less buttoned up.
Unsurprisingly, the investment further ballooned from just fountain pens to, yes, you guessed it – journals. Months later we found ourselves at an annual fountain pen show in the city, a great experience for me and for my family to come to appreciate that there is indeed a ton of fellow fountain pen enthusiasts who share the same love for this mystical instrument.
Much like how it turned out at a timepiece show, the missus was steering the stroller and the kids, and she said verbatim that the longer we dwindle here, the more likely they will find something they like and ask us to buy. Suffice to say they lingered to the right booth, got themselves unlined journals by Leuchtturm 1917 paired with pen loopsfor fountain pens, juxtaposed with complementary colours. The naïve minds may think that my job is done here, only to find myself motivating them with a treat every page of journal they would drag to complete.
This article was written by our fellow contributor, @suiticism.
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