Board Games, the JFK Assassination, and One of Ryan’s Stories

 

We have talked about how RPM has been life changing for the family before, but I wanted to give you another example.

Lately, we have been doing board games at home and at family events and we include Ryan.  Some of the games that we have played are Headbands, Guess Who, Boggle (this one was hard for him because he can’t seem to look at the letters for too long), Apples to Apples for Kids, and Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit.

The other day, Grace asked if we could play a board game.  It was just Grace, Ryan, and me at home, so we had to play a game that would either require 2 or 3 players (if I didn’t have to hold the board for Ryan).  Grace went through her games and decided that she wanted to play Candy Land.  We had Ryan join us.

Now if you have never played Candy Land or if you haven’t played it in a while, here is a brief explanation of the game.  Each player gets a piece to move (Grace was the Queen, I was the Fairy, and Ryan was the King).  When it is your turn, you pick a card and turn it over.  It has a color or two of the same color on it and it indicates what space you move your piece to.  There are a few cards with pictures on them (essentially pieces of candy) and those spots are located on the board.  If you get one of those, you move to the space that matches the picture.

Grace starts setting up the game and she says to Ryan, “Ryan, Candy Land is a game of luck!”

We start playing and taking turns.  Ryan needs some prompting to pick up the card and turn it over (and I have to hold on to the cards so that he does not take them and scatter them everywhere).  Well, after a few turns, he is in the lead.  And then he draws a picture card of the peppermint candy, which sends him very far back on the board and he loses his lead.

Well he goes nuts.  He starts crying and runs to his room. Now I could tell that most of the game, he seemed on edge and a bit agitated, but this set him off.  I decided that it was best to leave him alone at this point.  Grace and I finished the game and drew the cards for his turn.  I ended up the lucky one and winning the game.

I went to see Ryan after and I asked him what was wrong.

“Why were you so upset?”

BECAUSE IT WAS TOO BABYISH.

“But Grace picked out the game.  It had nothing to do with you. She even mentioned that it was a game of luck and not a game of skill.”

IT REMINDED ME OF ALWAYS BEING TREATED LIKE A BABY IN THE PAST.

I understood where he was coming from, but I still explained that the choice of the game had nothing to do with him.  He really seems affected by anything that reminds him of being treated like baby.

*****

I mentioned in my last blog post that Uncle Dave was in town.  He was only in town overnight, so we wanted to do the touristy thing with him.  We decided on heading to Dallas for Dealey Plaza.

Randy drove the path of President Kennedy’s motorcade and we walked around Dealey plaza and saw all of the sites associated with the assassination.  We did not do the museum as we were a bit pressed for time.  I knew that it would only be appropriate to do a lesson about the events surrounding JFK’s assassination for Ryan.

One of the parts of the lesson talked about how every generation has a moment where they won’t forget where they were when an event happened.  The JFK assassination was one of them.  I told Ryan that 9/11 was the one for my generation.  We went on to discuss how the events of November 22, 1963 unfolded and the days following it.

After the lesson, I asked for Ryan’s thoughts.

I AM TOO MUCH MOVED BY THIS EVENT.

“So you liked the lesson?’

DEARLY GIVE IT TOO MANY STARS.

“Awesome.  I am glad.”

WOULD YOU BE FOND OF GIVING A LESSON ON MEANINGFUL, DEARLY SAD TWIN TOWERS FALLING?

“Wow.  Um I am not sure.  I might get emotional but I can try.  Give me some time to write one.”

WISHING TO KNOW MORE ABOUT IT.

*****

Ryan wrote this story with Adriana over a series of 3 lessons.  As I have explained before, Ryan does his best writing after a lesson.  I think that it gets his brain going.

SO ONCE UPON A TIME, A SPECIAL BOY CALLED ADAM HAD A MEAN NEIGHBOR.  THE MEAN NEIGHBOR CALLED ADAM DUMB.  THE NEIGHBOR TEARS UP THE GARDEN CREATED BY ADAM.  ONE COLD DAY, THE NEIGHBOR FOUND A FLOWER ON HIS STEPS.

THE MEAN NEIGHBOR ASKED ADAM IF HE LEFT THE FLOWER.  ADAM REPLIED THAT HE DID.  MEAN NEIGHBOR HAD TO ASK WHY.  ADAM TOLD HIM HE GOT REALLY FED UP WITH NEIGHBOR TEARING UP HIS GARDEN.  HE LOVED HIS GARDEN AND LEARNED THAT IT HAS BEAUTIFUL, LOVELY, MAGICAL POWERS.  THE FLOWERS COULD MAKE PEOPLE HAPPY AND THE MEAN NEIGHBOR GOT BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS.  ADAM NEEDED THE NEIGHBOR TO CHANGE.

THE NEIGHBOR SAID, “BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS, BOY, AND REALLY AM SORRY THAT I CALLED YOU NAMES.”

THE NEIGHBOR NOW BECAME THE NICE NEIGHBOR.