Penmanship

This can be as simple as writing in cursive for pleasure or for the experience. Writing what is important, meaningful, and truly felt is important. A certain minimum quality of movement is part of the experience, but perfection is not required. By contrast, printing does not allow for 'flow', and typing of course is resorting to pushbutton control.

Rationale: The use of 'fine motor control' simultaneously with language has some role in harmonizing heart, body and mind. Penmanship was traditionally understood as primarily a way to aid neuro-muscular development and only secondarily as a tool of communication. A stressed child cannot write very legibly, and since most children now are stressed, penmanship is abandoned as unfeasible and punitive. This eliminates a chance for people to have in their daily lives both a visual monitor of emotional state and a means of expressing that visual state. Mere word choice is only a partial release of emotional tensuion. The 'old-fashioned' practice of thank-you letters made sense only if they were handwritten, in that way, they consolidated the relationship.

Source: Tradition (now abandoned)