1 Mother 2 Another

A few weeks ago, I wrote about
Cora’s recent discovery of the game “Sorry”. I
won a couple times, she had a hard time dealing with it, and I was
worried it was Candyland all over – all smiles and sunshine
until Someone Other Than Cora won: then it was on to screams and
throwing of pieces and storming off. Would Sorry be simply
Candyland 2.0?


I won’t keep you hanging – the answer is no.


Cora is older and wiser, and after one night of tears and a very
good sulk, she decided there’s a better way to deal with
losing.


Learning how to win.

My five-year-old will invite a dandelion
in for a game of Sorry, sit down, and take her sweet sassy molassy
time playing. And winning. She plays the game at least two or three
times a day, and as often as not, she wins. In fact, she’s
beaten me four games in a row – and really beaten me, not the
fake winning where the grown-up lets her win.


Cora has learned patience and strategy and long-term planning.
She’ll come out of her “start” and sit there on
the first space for several turns, choosing to use her turn on
other, further along pieces. Cora can squat on her starting spot
for up to a dozen turns like some sort of serene Sorry Buddha,
placidly waiting for a “4” card to come up so she can
move backwards, pass her “safety zone” by one step,
then march on up on her next turn, thereby neatly skipping the
complete circumnavigation of the board.


If you don’t know the rules of Sorry and have no idea what I
just said, trust me, this kid has learned strategy.


So Cora has matured. She’s gone from someone who purges
losing by screaming and throwing things, to someone who purges
losing by methodically studying and then kicking the crap out of
her opponent the next time. She plans, she takes her time, and she
kicks some butt.


Wait – have we skipped straight to the teenage years?