Skip to content

Letters: Delivering Richmond News builds life skills

Dear Editor, So, the pandemic happened and our 13-year-old son came home from school during the last week of in-class sessions saying that he would like to become a Richmond News carrier.
Richmond News
Send Richmond News photos of your celebrations!

Dear Editor,

So, the pandemic happened and our 13-year-old son came home from school during the last week of in-class sessions saying that he would like to become a Richmond News carrier. Since he learned that we were tightening the purse strings at home, he thought it would be a good idea to start making a little money of his own. With sports programs on hold and on-line class instruction starting, it was also a great reason to get outside for some regular exercise.

Anyway, we whole-heartedly agreed. Now, every Thursday, he has a system of prep work and delivery. He separates the bundles, folds papers with elastic bands, loads up his wagon and with his clipboard in hand, gets out there and delivers papers on two routes. Through trial and error, he has fine-tuned an efficient delivery system.

As a family, we have discussed the inclusion of his paper routes into a new fall school and sports routine which will help him develop crucial time-management skills.

I don’t know about you, but with the overwhelmingly dire world news out there right now, we really look forward to reading our local community newspaper more than ever. By encouraging your kids to take on a paper route, you are not only supporting your local newspaper by increasing its distribution, but you are giving your kids the baseline opportunity to build valuable skills to grow into mature, responsible contributing young members of society.

It is most definitely a WIN — WIN!

Anneke Wijtkamp

RICHMOND

Editor’s note: Honestly, I didn’t commission this letter.