EPISODE 12 - Should You Let Kids Win At Chess?

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Today we learn how to impart lessons in perseverance and fair play to your children. Or, how to trounce your kids at games and feel fine about it.

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I think I would have been pissed off as a kid if my dad had ever started to let me win chess games. Games are only fun when everyone is giving their all, otherwise what are we even doing?

 

I have a younger cousin who (as a child) was accustomed to adults letting him win everything, and he would always get so upset when I played with him and actually tried to win. A person has to learn how to lose, if only just to know where they stand.

 

That said, kids also need patience from their "betters" if they are ever going to get anything constructive from the losing experience. Good moves should be called out as often as bad ones, and after each game offer to walk them through their strategy and show opportunities for improvement.