We had our 7 yr old greatgranddaughter and 5 yr old greatgrandson over for a couple of hours. We took them out to lunch at Subway and then played a game of Memory (a.k.a. concentration but with an enhanced deck of 108 cards). That is the game where a large number of cards are placed face down and the object is to find matching pairs. The idea is to use your memory and remember which card is the horse head so that when the matching horse head is turned over, you can scoop up both cards. Every pair turned up can be kept and whoever has the highest pile of cards wins.
Both my wife and I have PhD's and neither of the little squirts have one. But she and I have played with kids this age before and we know what to expect. We were totally correct. When our two adult stacks were combined, we failed to match either child. I suppose it is possible that we are extra limited at our advanced age and that if you have played, you would have been able to remember the location of the doll baby, the candle and the quilt better than the children.
Warning: it is easy to get lulled into the proud stance of an older, wiser person, one who can easily outdo little kids. However, when you watch the calm, unhurried reaching of the small right hand for a card, while the left hand scoops up the target's partner without any shift of the eyes needed to guide the left, you will realize you are out classed. My theory is that the more you panic, the harder you frown and determine you will damned well remember where the clown is, the more you will confuse the clown with the puppet and the queen with the cook.
Meanwhile, the opposition keeps scooping and scooping, without any apparent strain or determination. Just little hands busily working, stacking and stacking ever higher.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
