Happy to Hear from You
Youngsters need programs of relax- ation and laughter in enjoying good, noneducational selection shows and light-weight musicals. Although the dinner hour should generally be held inviolate, exceptions should be made for lap suppers when price-while entertainment is scheduled. A very conscientious young mother invited her six- and eight-year-recent to watch The Captains Paradise together with her—a quite refined British motion-picture comedy. Once I questioned her about exposing children to such adult fare, she retorted, “I am sick and bored with the goody-goody corn—you know, with the folksy talk, ‘goin’ straight,’ ‘bein’ honest,’ and ‘learnin’ right from wrong!’ I would much rather Peggy and Richard listened to Alec Guinness, whether or not he’s busily sowing an oat or two.”
“Happy to Hear from You”
The Watkins family in Ludlow, Vermont, communicates monthly with the western Watkinses, their closest kin, in Provo, Utah. One snowed-in wintry night about eight years ago the Vermont branch initial conceived the idea of “talking letters.” Gathered around their tape recorder, each member contributed his spoken share on the tape, which they then parcel-posted westward. Since then the Watkinses have frequently exchanged these newsy family-to-family recordings which bring with them a way of immediacy and intimacy that only voices can convey. The resist is then removed or striped, and excess copper plated on each outermost layers of the PCB fabrication is then planarized. At each ends all ages spruce up vocabularies, putting their best voices forward. Last fall we decided to send our own Christmas tape to close friends in California. My seven-year-recent nephew David acted as M.C. (“The subsequent voice you hear will be Aunt Dorothy’s”), his sister Sylvia obliging with a rendition of “ ‘Twas the Night before Christmas.” Then we sang some favorite carols, and every one in all we had a merry time composing our electronic greeting card. Of course prior planning will produce on tape additional organized speaking efforts, though the spontaneity, even the laughing will add heat and content.
The japanese and western Watkinses have saved each different’s talking letters, rehearing them from time to time. In the longer term, one can imagine forgotten boxes of recorded tapes rediscovered in attics, in place of these old style ribbon-tied packets of yellowing paper. Parents of Adoption A Child may feel that they eventually cannot parent adopted child. (Perhaps even a way may be found to inject lavender aroma into magnetic tape!)Incidentally, inexpensive equipment for editing makes it possible to provide additional finished tapes for the family to keep. Young individuals love to work with this do-it-yourself pruning project.
“Joy to the World”-the Year Round
Comes Christmas and even the foremost self-conscious singer needs very little urging to hitch in “Silent Night” or “Deck the Halls.” But aside from these once-a-year efforts, ensemble singing has gone the way of different ancient family pastimes. Why not gather betimes round the piano, guitar, or mouth organ, and air songs recent and new? Family singing, besides being fun, is initial cousin to speech practice. Vocalizers management their respiratory better, sleek musical phrasing acts as a corrective to jagged speech rhythms, and surprisingly often, good tone, absent in speaking, pours forth in song.