I set the trophies out at the gaming event. When the kids asked about the trophies I told them that I would decide who got a trophy and when. They might get one for winning the game they were playing, for example, but I would give trophies for other things too. It was all up to me! The kids were somewhat intrigued by this and constantly come running to me to brag about their accomplishments. Many of these involved winning: Long winning streaks (or thwarting long winning streaks!), perfect scores, etc. But there were other achievements too, such as helping a younger child learn to play the games or organizing a rotation system so that everyone could get a turn to play.
Over the course of the afternoon I found a reason to reward every child who attended the program with a trophy. The highlight of my afternoon came at the end of the day when one of the older kids saw that, miraculously enough, I only had one trophy left in my box. He took the trophy, handed it to me, and told me that I could keep it because I was the best at setting up the gaming program. Isn't that sweet?
 |
| Label added by yours truly after the fact. |
But kids aren't simply sweet. Sometimes they say the darndest things. Over the course of the afternoon I was able to show off my own gaming skills by competing with the kids in attendance. After schooling a couple of fifth-grade boys at Mario Kart one of them turned to me, patted me on the shoulder, and said:
"You're pretty good for an old person."
I didn't know if I should take that as a compliment or as an insult! When I posed the question to the boy he actually thought about it for a moment before telling me that he wasn't sure either.
2 comments:
Ha! To a fifth grader, anyone ten years older has already lived a very long time. I remember making similar comments as a kid, not realizing the people I said them to weren't that old. :) The trophy kid was very sweet, at least!
At least you're no longer mistaken for one of the kids. Mom
Post a Comment