I’m Not Good at This

The boys brought home homework from their after school Chess Club.  Yeah, that’s right.  I paid for them to hang out after school to learn about chess and those people returned the favour by having my kids bring home homework that I have to spend time figuring out!?

My knee jerk reaction was to shut it down. Sorry, I can’t help you guys. I really don’t know anything about chess. Why don’t I help you with your math homework? Oh, yeah, your writing assignment, I can help you with that. I can read to you.  I’m really good at reading bedtime stories…

The next day, I overheard “I’m not very good at this.  I’ll do something I’m good at.”

Jumping in with my helpful parenting advice, I gently responded: “Of course you’re not good at THIS just yet, you haven’t spent much time on it. If you work on it more, you’ll be as good at THIS as you are at THAT!  It’s just a muscle that you have to flex. You will get better at anything you make an effort in. Okay? Okay?  You can do anything as long as you try.”

Sheesh.  Where did they learn THAT terrible attitude?  Oh right, from me!

I then did a quick shout out to my friendly neighbourhood Facebook network. Lo and behold, a mommy friend in the States and one in Singapore immediately responded that their boys, older and well versed in the world of chess, could help.  I took a photo of the challenge and they posted up the answers right away!

Once I got the answers, I was able to work backwards and help the boys with their chess homework.  Whew.

Just working a new muscle…