Re:Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning
by lylejantzi3rd on Friday February 23, 2024 @12:03PM
(#39483161)
> A teacher and my parents both tried to improve my penmanship by forcing me to write page and pages of letters.
This is actually a decent tactic if, like you said, you want to improve your handwriting. You have to want it. You have to go slow and form the letters perfectly every time so you develop that muscle memory. I printed pages of a single letter in the font I wanted to imitate and traced the letters. It's a great activity to do while you're sitting in front of the TV.
My handwriting got worse each time. So I don't recommend that.
I think you have to want it to improve, and to value it. And then you have to practice with that in mind. At that age, I was unable to see a reason to improve it, and it was a lot of work, so I didn't put any actual effort into it beyond that torture they were putting me through. (It hurts my hand to write.)
Lately, though, I've considered finally improving it. I think improving it will involve re-learning how to hold a pen and move my arm/hand while writing. They way I do it is basically guaranteed to produce bad results, and I should approach it more like art than utility.
That all said... I still haven't found the energy or resolve for it.
Good luck!