Chess...
I have been teaching Julia chess.. I have also been helping out at her school when they play chess. Chess is a great game for kids.
It teaches them to analyze their environment and react accordingly.
It teaches them that their actions have consequences.
It teaches them to plan ahead.
It teaches them that people think in different ways.
It teaches them that there is more than one way to achieve a goal.
It teaches them to focus on the task at hand.
It teaches them to keep trying even when things are not looking great.
It teaches them that you can learn a lot from losing.
It teaches you that no matter how good you think you are, you can be humbled quite quickly.
It teaches them that sometimes you have to sacrifice something of value in order to reach your goal.
It teaches sometimes there are intagibles that are more valuable than tangibles.
It teaches that one bad move can ruin your entire plan.
The cool thing is that while they do all of this learning in a low stakes game, these lessons translate nicely into pretty much every decision making process that they go through in life.
Julia learned pretty quickly at the age of 5 1/2.. I have read that that is an ideal time to get them started. I have also found that her experience playing chess makes it easier to discuss her decision making in the real world.
