Game Face

"I'm going to beat you Grandma!".............and she often does.  The other day I was extolling the virtues of saying yes.  We say "no" to kids at all the wrong times.  No is good...."No you can't play in the road..No you can't eat 3 candy bars before dinner......No you can't ride in the front seat...and so on! But "no" isn't good when you're asked by a child to play a game. The only thing that trumps reading with yours kids ( and grands) is playing games.  They learn sportsmanship, the art of graceful losing and joyful winning, counting, money, taking turns, patience and a plethora of other aspects of gamesmanship.  Bailee is the consummate checkers player.  It makes no difference if you're playing with red and black discs or Princess pieces, she is into the game.  I marvel at her ability to analyze and anticipate the consequences of each move.  She has fairly and squarely beaten me several times!  Last night her Mom beat her twice and there were no tantrums, no whines and no tears...I think that's pretty good for a 5 year old..  After supper, when asked if we could play "Birdopoly," (an old, avian enthusiast's Grandma version of the die hard Monopoly), my head said " no" but my heart said "yes!"  "Sometime, Grandma you need to teach me to be the banker!"  In no way did she know how much she learned about counting money and adding and subtracting in that short 45 minutes.  She did however; learn to acquire property and the sheer joy of taking away my hard earned money for rent!! Maybe the housing market won't be her downfall! 
We play lots of card games and board games.  We have many races in the yard where I generally lose.............and  I'm driving the golf cart!!! :-(. We've entered one of my favorite gaming seasons, FOOTBALL and I'm teaching her all I know (minus the 4 letter words).  For a few years, she actually thought the refs were really called zebras!!
Sportsmanship is so important! I'm excited that she's excited about the love of all kinds of games.  She told me yesterday that she couldn't wait for school to start so she could see Mr. Langtry..... He's her gym teacher..  She's gained a lot of balance and stamina over the summer as well as the importance of her game face... If she isn't picked on a team or she makes a bad move, she'll just sluff it off and move forward.. because that's the name of the game!!!