Editing The Pen Addict 274/transcript (section)

== Top Secret Project ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' So, Michael, Michael J., who I want to give a shout-out. This is top secret, Myke. Not even you know about it. See, I don't tell you all the things. Oh, man, me and Michael. I'm working on a project, Myke.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's almost in the release stage. Almost in the release stage. So, I'll leave it at that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Is this another one of those secret podcasts that you're doing about me?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, no. Okay. Top secret project, though. So, he asks, and this is a question near and dear to my heart. It says, at curriculum night for my daughter last night, her teacher mentioned that they will be teaching kids proper pencil grip this year because she said that if they don't learn it by the end of the first grade, it's near impossible to correct in the future. I am now wondering, is there only one correct pen or pencil grip, and if so, what is it? So, I'm going to go with no. There's not only one correct grip. But what they're probably teaching, and which everyone answered Michael in the Slack room last night, was the tripod grip. That's a very traditional grip that is taught. Now, neither of my kids, so I have a sixth grader and a fourth grader. So, neither of my kids were taught how to grip. They never had any type of homework on how to grip a pencil or a pen. But they were definitely taught, you know, letters and how to write and all that type of stuff. My daughter does not use the tripod grip. My son does use the tripod grip. My son's handwriting is awful. My daughter's handwriting is beautiful. So, I don't think there's one correct grip. And being in this, you know, world where we see everyone write, you see the most beautiful handwriting no matter the grip, Sal. So, I don't think it's important. I don't think, I do think they can learn later in life how to change their grip. I don't think it's that difficult. It's like learning. Like when I sat down to learn an architectural style handwriting, it requires a little bit of a different grip. And you can learn that stuff even in your old age like me. So, they're going to get taught the tripod grip, which is actually, that's great. But if your child doesn't like it and it makes their handwriting worse, they'll figure it out eventually. That's kind of what my daughter did. She always had a weird grip. I don't even know how I can explain it. But her handwriting is beautiful. My son has the perfect traditional grip. His handwriting is garbage. We have to work on it all the time. Poor buddy. But he's got a perfect grip. And it's nothing to do with the grip. It's just, he just doesn't have those motions. So, let them teach away. They're going to figure out what makes their letters look the best as they go. And if they don't learn traditional tripod grip, that's no problem.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It doesn't matter if you have bad handwriting. You can get along in this world.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. No. You know what, Myke? Like, I was never anti-bad handwriting, but I am totally come around. I'm pro-bad handwriting.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You hate handwriting in schools, right? That's right. You hate that? You think it should be bad? Didn't you write that book? Oh, am I getting my wires bursting on?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I was about to kill you for a second. I know you were. Because the silence is like, you were trying to work out what I was doing to you. Yeah. I was a little confused there. Yeah. But please keep teaching handwriting in schools, even if it's not cursive. Curse of Teach Our Kids How to Write with Pens and Pencils, please. All right. Tony wants to know, are you buying a Hobonichi this year? I'm assuming this is directed at me because I have and I haven't bought, and I am still not buying a Hobonichi. It's probably the hardest thing I don't buy every year.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I think about it every time.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I know it's a mistake, and it's not an expensive mistake to make, which is why I sometimes end up buying it, and then I still don't use it. But I didn't buy one last year, and I held out. So I'm going again, Tony. No Hobonichi for me this year.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' The Cousin's really tempting, but it's even bigger. I would use it even less.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's a ridiculous thing to say, but it's the hardest thing I don't buy every year because I want to love it so much because it is such an amazing product. But I will stick with my Midori calendars that I use and can fill in my own dates as I go and have a much smaller writing areas. So, all right. Last one, Myke, from future show host, I believe, Joey Feldman, right? Is that what it's going to be? He's going to be hosting the show?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Definitely past.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Definitely in the past. Okay. All right. So Joey wants to know. Possibly in the future.