Another lesson learned from my Nieces. Another lesson on patience. In less than a week.
My regular readers know that I babysit my school-age nieces after school. Drama Queen is 6; Little Mama is 8. When they arrive from the school bus, they wash their hands and we have a snack. Once snack is done, we'll go into the TV room and usually play games. If they have been especially good during the week, they can watch the Disney channel once a week.
I recently taught them to play a favorite card game of mine - SkipBo. Drama Queen is obsessive about playing it.Every.Day. If Little Mama or I do not want to play, she'll play by herself. She is very competitive and hates losing.
I believe in building the self-esteem of a child and letting them win occassional games. When they are 4 or 5 years old. Not 6 going on 7. So I play to win. Granted, I have been playing SkipBo longer and I understand how to strategize. So I usually win. Drama Queen HATES it. She hates it so much that I have caught her cheating twice.
Now that she has had the lecture from both me and her mom, I don't think she's cheating anymore. But if she is losing, she'll want to quit the game. Frustration painted on her face. Lacking patience.
Hmmm... Who does that remind me of? Me? Twice already this week, I have blogged about God speaking to me about patience. And now a third time?
Okay, I get it. Patience. I need more patience. What's next? God teaching me that I need to rely on Him more? Yep, I see that one coming.
7 Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. 8 Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper—it only leads to harm. 9 For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land. Psalm 37:7-9
Join Lori to see who else is Delighting in the Details this week.
11 comments:
To tell you that you wrote this post for me would be the biggest understatement of the year. Seriously, this touched me like you wouldn't believe. I'm going to write a post on my own blog about exploring my faith (today, as soon as I get a few minutes to do it), and I just wrote one about patience.
Thanks!
Such an awesome detail.
I love it when God speaks to you through a good old-fashioned competitive game of SkipBO. :) I can remember playing with my grandparents and getting so mad because they always won and they were so picky about the rules (if you accidentally pick up two cards instead of one, you get to keep them). Yes, I think playing games is a good place to learn patience.
Hey, Heather. Thanks for stopping by my blog! Isn't it so funny how God uses kids to show us so much about ourselves. I think that patience is something we all probably could stand to work on. Have fun playing many more games of SkipBo.
You have more patience than I do!
Just found you via the Casting Call auditions. Love the Hokey Pokey!
I know I struggle with patience. Especially now that I am tired and sleepy - I really struggle with patience. I encounter endless chance to practice this skill, but I often lose the battle. I'm still working on it!
P.S I too love SkipBo!
I HATE to admit it but I've been losing and wanted to QUIT myself!!:)
patience....again....
do you ever get the feeling that the BIG GUY is TRYING to teach us something!!:) HA!!
I LOVED THIS DETAIL...thank YOU for the lesson....
again...I needed the reminder!!
thanks for joining in...your details always hit me right in the heart!!
hugs,
lori
My 5 year old granddaughter is obsessed with playing card games...and she always wins! Go figure!
This is a great application on patience. Thanks for sharing it.
Ah skipbo! I don't love games, so I let the kids win, even the six year old. I grew up with a parent who had to win at all costs, regardless of the age of the child. I don't let my children play games with this person, because even playing against someone age 2 or 3 this person always had to win, and would throw a hissy fit if they didn't.
I love that game! It brings back happy memories of times playing it with family.
I need a lot more patience too. I really struggle with that. Great post.
i LOVE skipbo. no one in my family likes it and i hardly ever get to play :(
cheating is one of the biggest issues we encounter with kids in our youth group. we play games and they openly cheat - see nothing wrong with it - and don't care that it's obvious. they are proud that they cheat and can influence the game as such.
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