I love puzzles, riddles numbers and lateral thinking.
As a parent I have bought lots of computer games and table games that involve thinking. I also have enjoyed video games. When I was 16, I bought my first game console; an At@ri 2600. We played lots of games in that console (and had to refurbish the joysticks innumerable times). Later on, my little brother (I have 3 brothers and 2 sister, talk about big family!) bought a Seg@ Genes1s. Finally, before Mediana was born, I got me a PS. Now it has been exiled to my brother’s house.
Yesterday Pinka (she is almost 8 years old) was playing in the computer one of those games I got for them, and asked for my help to solve three puzzles (*)
The first one I got, the second one I messed up the instructions and had 50% success; the last one I messed up worse than the first one and had 25% success (we had to move 8 characters from one part of a map to another, I lost 7 in the way; really bad results).
After I embarrassed myself with those results my daughter tells me: “thank you very much daddy, I could not have done it without your help!” in a really happy voice.
Now, Pinka has been known to be extra polite. But she can be cut-throat when required (she told the nanny that she was not her nanny, she was a maid). So I know she is trying to be nice to me, but it got me thinking… The thank you in her voice was NOT for helping her. It was for the 15 minutes we spend laughing and joking and thinking about how to get it done.
After a difficult day; with a bad start, and visitors at work to spend time with, and my wife having a hell of a day… it is nice to know your daughter will let you off the hook.
See you around.
(*) Pinka is the same one that asked me one day (when she was 5): “What peculiar means?” I explained and then asked her back: “Why you want to know?” She then told me “so and so were behaving in a very peculiar way today at school”. Where does she get those words?
Six
1 week ago
3 comments:
It is very nice to see that you get the real picture. You almost always do!!
Kids are loving and really only need time. Every time the kids spend time with us - they mostly live with their father - I worry that there is not enough. Not enough space, not enough to entertain them with, not enough money to take them out, not enough anything.
Today, as we were watching Vanilla Sky - that remake of "Abre los ojos" that is, IMHO, regrettable at the very least -, Danny says to me, half asleep, "I love spending time here."
Kids are always forgiving. More so than we think they are.
maria is so right.
i always worry (we have my daughter two weekends/month) that our apartment is too small (she lives w/her mother in a fairly big house in another town), there aren't enough toys here, she will get bored, she won't like what i cook, she won't come back, etc.
in reality, she always loves visiting and never seems to run out of things to do. and when she's not with us, she calls almost every day...sometimes just to say nothing; just to sing to us. she is almost 4.
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