Life Lesson from Chutes and Ladders

Squash ↓

Tue, Apr 24 2007, 2:12 pm

I like to (try to) play games with my kids after lighting candles Friday night.

This past week they chose to play Chutes and Ladders.

So, this is how the game went: My son (6) made a huge fuss every time he landed on a "chute" and refused to go down. No way, he wasn't going all the way to the bottom again! He started crying, mega tears...... A real sore loser. Then, when he was on the square right before the tallest ladder on the board he announced that when his turn comes around next, he'll spin the spinner underneath the table Wink

. Of course I told him the spinner stays on the table at all times.

Well, his turn came and I was a little distracted, talking to my daughter, and he "magically" spun a 1!! Of course, he had that innocent yet guilty look on his face..... I insisted that he spin again and whew! He burst out crying! He did not deny that he cheated, but somehow he felt like he deserved to go up that ladder.

My daughter (5), on the other hand, was a real sport. She went up the ladders happily and took the chutes in stride. Laughing and giggling all the while. And she kept getting the chutes. Every time she finally got a little higher on the board, whoops, down the slide.

For almost the entire game it looked as though my son would win and my daughter would be the very last to reach the top.

Well, what d'ya know? My daughter won waaaaay before my son ever got to the top. She never tried cheating, never complained when she went down.....

And so I was thinking:

We could really learn such a major lesson from this. You have to be straight. Cheating, lying, being crooked...... while it might make you think you'll do better that way, get more, have more, be more successful...... It's not a guarantee.

But, when you do what's right and good, although it's not a guarantee that you'll see more success and "win", in the end, when it really counts, after all is said and done, up on High - that's a SURE GUARANTEE that you've WON!!!!

(and of course, my first thought was - I'll share it with imamothers)