What age to start a child with a fountain pen?

[tde44x]

Just wondering what everyone thought about how early to have a child start with a fountain pen? 

 

I want to get my grandkids into fountain pens and don't want to frustrate them or their parents. FYI - one is 5 and the other is 3.

 

Will probably get the LAMY ABC for them unless someone has a better recommendation.

 

Thanks!

[inkstainedruth]

I would think it would depend largely on the children -- how mature they are for their age, whether they have been learning to write in school, how klutzy they are....

I certainly would not have been given even a BP at the age of 5 -- but I worked kid-friendly wooden jigsaw puzzles (the kind with large pieces that fit into a framed border) when I was so small my mom said that when I got bored I'd chew on the pieces, so I must have been about two (she ALSO said that I'd dump all eight of them onto the floor and work them all more or less simultaneously).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

ETA: It might also depend on their hand-eye coordination, and how good their fine motor skills are.  And how tolerant the parents would be of messes.  I sort of glommed onto my grandfather's pen-pencil combo after he died, when I found it on my dad's dresser.  But I was around 8 at that point, and of course, sadly, lost the pen long since.

[Karmachanic]

I'm with Ruth.  Eight.  In dependence upon a fountain pen houehold

[Switala]

Hello, I presented my son with his first fountain pen at the age of 4, with a Pelikan Griffix, extremely intuitive to use and tip adapted to the needs of his age.
He likes it a lot, now he's 7 years old and he's already thinking about the next Pelikan for his use.
I'm sure that the little ones surprise us with the ease with which they master these instruments.
I hope that your grandchildren will have fun with their pens and that the seed of fountain pens will grow and blossom with them.
Best Regards

[georges zaslavsky]

At age 6, the younger the child uses the fountain pen,the better he will have a penmanship

[khalev]

I’ve given fountain pens to my children starting around 8-10. Every child is different! My eldest loses pens. After losing two Jinhao 51As, a Lamy Safari, and a Staedtler lead holder he won’t even accept a writing instrument from me anymore. “I’ll just lose it, dad.” All of his schoolwork is done on computers anyway so pens, alas, aren’t even a practical tool for him. His younger brother has had better luck, but he still lost the fancy-looking Pentel gel pen he most favored while at school. He tends to keep his fountain pens, a Pelikan Twist and a Pilot Kakuno, at home. Most of this is due to the fact that his teachers won’t permit him to use anything besides a pencil, anyway, and the paper used at his school cannot properly handle liquid ink. He likes to draw with pencils, so I keep him well stocked with a variety of Blackwings, Mitsubishi, Musgrave, and other unusual (for our area) pencils. That’s probably as well as I can do to evangelize the analog stationery life. :)

[knarflj]

I suspect the parents may be the key.  If they're enthusiastic about helping the children learn to use fountain pens, then you can give the pen as soon as they're old enough to write.  If the parents don't care to help (or don't know how to), you may want to wait a few more years.

 

I spent a week last summer visiting a family with three children ages 2, barely 4, and almost 6.  They were all fascinated by the pens I had with me, and begged daily to write with them. Fortunately the 2yo was content to replace pens in the holder, and hand her sisters whichever pen they wanted to use next, but the 4yo and 6yo did quite well with them.  Mind you, a couple of the pens were NOT entry-level instruments, so I sat with them and uttered frequent cautions not to press too hard!

 

Depending on what paper your grandchildren will have available to write on, you might want to consider a Kakuno or something else with a very fine nib.  I bought Pelikanos for all my children when they were in grade school (the only student pen I knew of at the time), but they never really used them much, and I think part of the reason was that the nibs were just too wide and generous with ink to produce a satisfactory line on inexpensive notebook paper.  

 

You probably also want to make sure that replacement cartridges are easy to find for whatever starter pen you buy: most parents probably won't want their little ones using bottled ink!

[langere]

I started out with Gehas in Germany at age 8/9.  Still bent the heck out of the nib of the school pen (but I fixed it to make it work again).  That's probably the earliest age and remember that you will probably have to replace the pen at some point.

 

Erick

[dms525]

Many fine points have already been made. (Of course, if you prefer broad points ...). I assume your desire is that your grandchildren enjoy using pens, not just collecting them.

 

Here's my two cents worth:

 

1. Individual differences in readiness are substantial.

2. Preferences cannot be forced. I'm sure that's one of Newton's Laws.

3. Don't give a pen with permanent ink to a child with impulse control issues (by virtue of maturity or temperament), unless you are planning on painting your walls anyway.

4. Kids generally adopt likes and dislikes from role-modeling rather than instruction.

5. Kids are ready to draw shapes before they can read or write letters. Start them with drawing basic shapes, cartoon animals, etc.

6. Intolerable frustration and its negative effect on self-confidence is your enemy. Another reason not to push it.

7. Writing is not an end in itself. Motivation may stem from desire to produce beautiful script (calligraphy). Or it may stem from desire to produce written language - poetry, stories, diary, etc. Individual differences in what motivates writing varies from child to child.

 

Harry Truman, a pragmatist in parenting as in governing, said, "The best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it."

 

Happy writing (and grandparenting)!

 

David

[Switala]

Hello Davi.
Beautiful reflection!
Thanks for the wise words!
Best Regards

[Carrau]

2 hours ago, dms525 said:

Many fine points have already been made. (Of course, if you prefer broad points ...). I assume your desire is that your grandchildren enjoy using pens, not just collecting them.

 

Here's my two cents worth:

 

1. Individual differences in readiness are substantial.

2. Preferences cannot be forced. I'm sure that's one of Newton's Laws.

3. Don't give a pen with permanent ink to a child with impulse control issues (by virtue of maturity or temperament), unless you are planning on painting your walls anyway.

4. Kids generally adopt likes and dislikes from role-modeling rather than instruction.

5. Kids are ready to draw shapes before they can read or write letters. Start them with drawing basic shapes, cartoon animals, etc.

6. Intolerable frustration and its negative effect on self-confidence is your enemy. Another reason not to push it.

7. Writing is not an end in itself. Motivation may stem from desire to produce beautiful script (calligraphy). Or it may stem from desire to produce written language - poetry, stories, diary, etc. Individual differences in what motivates writing varies from child to child.

 

Harry Truman, a pragmatist in parenting as in governing, said, "The best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it."

 

Happy writing (and grandparenting)!

 

David

Such solid advice, and much of it broadly applicable.

[OMASsimo]

My generation was forced at school in third grade (age 8/9) to use (standardized) fountain pens for many years. It was accepted - and you could also play darts with the pens.😂 No kid was harmed by it, improvement of penmanship seems questionable, though. At least, most people here still know what a fountain pen is and even some of my students use them at free will. I think it’s more a question of availability and role model than trying to make people use certain pens. You can make kid friendly FPS available and watch what happens.

[JulieParadise]

The best and easiest way to figure out whether a fountain pen might survive the treatment of the child in question is to have a look at how (s)he treats a brush. If the child manages to vary pressure and not just smash and splay the bristles on a brush (let alone is able to hold it like the delicate tool a brush is), then giving her/him a fountain pen is safe. 

 

I have seen children mastering this between ages 3 to 10. Really! There are children who are able to use a brush at the age of three already, whereas some in the school where I volunteered would still be writing with extra thick pencils or even crayons at the age of 10. 

 

So, as always ... it depends. 

[txomsy]

In my generation we started writing using a pencil and were required to have readable writing before progressing to ball point pens or any other implement. Most students would progress at about ~6-8 years old... I was frustrated 'cos I was always ~2 school years behind in my writing quality. But then -I just realized after all these years- I was 2 school years ahead of my age, so maybe it was just as it should, but it really felt frustrating having all my colleagues writing 'like grown-ups" but not me.

 

At some point I had to be allowed to move on, in spite of my still terrific penmanship (as about 8 I moved to BPs with no improvement). The odd thing is that as soon as I started using an FP one or two years later (at about 9-10) all of a sudden my penmanship became readable, clear, fluid, fast and of better quality than average. Though it would revert to awful/unreadable if I used a BP or pencil. It can still do.

 

Go figure.

 

All this is to say that, in my experience, one cannot make generalizations. What works for some need not work for everybody, and IMMHO, the best course is to give it a try: one may get the surprise that someone who hates writing suddenly loves using an FP. An vice versa.

[Wahl]

As soon as possible

[JB01]

When they no longer suck on the nib.

JB