If anyone has played a game with a five-year old who wants to do by themselves, you can understand patience.
One evening, my son wanted to play Battleship. It’s a classic, so why wouldn’t he want to play. However, he usually plays with an adult on his “team” so that they can help him figure out the letter/number grid. This particular evening, he said he was ready to do it by himself. So, of course I’m willing to try this out. I sat in my chair and he sat across the room from me in his chair. And the battle began!
Each shot meant going down the side of the board through each letter out loud, and then over to the right through each number out loud, sometimes more than once until he found the correct spot. There were times that one shot could take about ten minutes to figure out if it was a hit or miss. This went on, and on, and on. There were several times that I just wanted to get up, go over to his board, and show him where the shot was. But I didn’t. I let him work it out all by himself. It’s a good thing that Battleship takes place over water because I started to get thirsty! Needless to say, the game took a very long time, one which we did not complete before bedtime. By time we put the game away and got ready for bed, he said to me that he couldn’t believe that he was able to play that game without any help.
A little patience, with the help of a glass of wine, let that little boy go to bed that night with a huge sense of accomplishment. And I went to bed as an even prouder parent.
