The Old Fashioned Daily Paper

Madi finishes the comics on a quiet Sunday afternoon

I've read articles and heard through the news that we don't know how to read deeply any more. I believe that is true. Even I prefer a magazine to a novel. Sound bites and blog posts, tweets and facebook phrases, that is how we've reduced ourselves in the realm of literature and reading.

Another area we've all gotten away from is holding the printed page. We read from a screen-and we love its convenience, but there is something valued and important and enduring about touching and turning the printed page. I love my husband and respect his amazing daily discipline of scripture study, but I must admit (and have to him) I cringe when he pulls out his ipad at church and turns to Job or Matthew. I know that's a personal preference, and not a comment on anyone's dedication or love for literature or scripture. John reads circles around me, and he knows it, maybe I'm just sentimental....

But a few months ago I was thinking on this and a little feeling came that we needed to take the paper. John's parents took the paper, and my parents and I delivered the paper for years and years on end. The printed newspaper, with its adds and commentary and comics-its something that brings the world to our doorstep, and when we read what is happening from a printed page, we pattern a value and love for that print that is passed on to our children.

So I signed up. And the kids dug in. They read the funnies. Mason reads the sports and the political section. I look through the personal interest pieces and sometimes (lately especially!) read the obituaries. A couple of months ago the kids came across a news story about a family that has encouraged the learning of multiple languages in their home. The article was passed around, all of the kids got excited. This spurned us on to tackle the task of learning Spanish. The kids now spend an hour or so a week-usually on Sunday afternoons-saying Spanish words into a computer microphone as they plow through Rosetta Stone lessons. We are all on fire (caliente) about learning (aprendar) en Espanol.

And that is thanks to taking the paper.

I know our world is moving faster than ever. But I think some of those old fashioned patterns and practices, like turning the pages of a book or strolling out to pick up the morning paper, are old fashioned practices worth passing along. I'm sure glad I listened to that little voice inside, the one that encouraged old fashioned learning by turning the pages of the daily paper.