I’ll admit that I’m kind of addicted to my pamphlets! I know I should cut back, but it’s hard. I definitely limit my kids’ pagetime, though: In our stone cottage, they’re each allowed 20 minutes a day. Books, codices — all of it counts.
And with my 13th kid, I decided to not teach him to read at all. He seems so free and natural, it’s amazing.
Some of my neighbors let their kids read books all day, and I’m not judging, but at the same time, well, peace be to them all.
In general I think it’s exciting that the Gutenberg printing press has come, definitely, but if you think about the longer-term effects of what all this reading might do to us — well, I guess it remains to be seen. But also, isn’t burning candles before bed messing with our circadian rhythms? My neighbor Gretel got a color-changing candle that she says mimics the effects of the sun so that it’s all more “natural,” but it still seems weird. I see her up sometimes at night in the window, and the golden candlelight on her face looks so sad.
I also worry that if the kids are cooped up with their manuscripts all the time, how are they going to go out and have sex behind the church like we used to? I wish I was having sex behind the church again, ha!
