In the summers when parents simply told their kids to go out and play, with no particular plan for where they’d be or what they’d be doing with whom, a lot could go wrong— but mostly it did not.
Of course, there is no way to turn back the clock, but in thinking back over some of the activities we kids enjoyed a lot, whether during summer vacation or on cold winter afternoons, playing games stood out.
For the last couple of years, I have played board games with my oldest grandchild, and the serendipity of who wins or loses matters less than my observation of how much better Scarlett has gotten at accepting a loss when it comes her way. I ham it up, to be sure, feigning despair as she scampers ahead of me in Candy Land or Life, or acquires so many properties in Junior Monopoly that my fate is surely sealed with my predictable impending bankruptcy.
Trouble, Memory and Animal Lotto have also been part of our game-playing trajectory, but now that sportsmanship and low stakes have become better-understood principles, I decided it was time to branch out into cards.
Go Fish was the simple beginning, yet the unanticipated challenge was that sorting a fan of cards into matches is not so easy when one’s hand is rather small.
When it was established that there was something about Slapjack that was very unappealing (that something being getting hit in the process of slapping the card), we skipped over Slapjack and went right to Old Maid.
Again, there was resistance.
It’s hard to feel confident when you’re learning something new, but getting comfortable with being temporarily uncomfortable is a great life skill. So play, we did.
How lovely to see that now Scarlett and her younger sister want to play cards together, and Scarlett is passing on what she knows.
Tomorrow, I’m moving on to Crazy 8’s.
Snacks will be optional, but blanket tent?
Required. ©
