Slacking - That's what I've been doing! The start of summer is usually busy for us. This year we got a few projects in the yard done before Finn's birthday. Then we added a wedding on 4th of July weekend. We haven't gotten much gaming in this summer. We haven't even really had people over to grill as often as we'd like!

Humility - A few weeks ago we managed to do that (have friends over). We grilled and then when the bugs came out, we went inside. I've talked about the issues of gaming with a small child before. But we're starting to run in to a differant situation with a couple of friends. They have kids that are getting old enough to play, and they want to. Gaming with a young child is a bit differant than with full adults. But it's important that kids get that opportunity. It's how they learn and as gamers, we usually feel a responsibility to contribute to the hobby. Teaching people how to game is part of that. Maybe even more so than discussing how to GM, that's refining and improving, but in order to grow the hobby, new people need to come in.

So back to the gaming night! After an adult's only game (not an adult game!) one adult dropped out and the rest of us were asked if we minded if the youngster joined us. It was quite considerate of the parent to ask and it was appreciated. Everyone at the table was a parent and either has started to introduce their child(ren) to gaming or is planning on it once they are of an age. We all said it was fine, and he sat down.

I was very pleased to see that he knew the rules already, mom and dad have played with him at home before letting him play in a group. We were able to simply start the game. In a short order, the adults were praying for the game to be over. Not because he was disruptive, he did need to be reminded it was his turn a couple of times, but frankly, sometimes we as adults lose track of that as well! Nope, it was because we were being soundly trounced by the youngest player. Every term it seemed that he was improving his standing in the game, it was unusual for him to have a round where he just maintained. While the rest of us struggled to survive, he cheerfully trampled us in to the ground. If he had just a touch more strategy and awareness of what was happening, he could have ended the game three or four turns earlier.

Ahh, humilty. It was a good reminder for all of us. This particular group of gamers was made up of people that are used to winning. Which sometimes makes for some pretty competitve games, but we have also all learned to lose gracefully as well. We know that logically you can't always win every game, and losing is going to happen. We generally expect it to be to one of us, not the 10 year old! On the other hand, it bodes well for the future. We're going to have someone else that can give us a run for our money. A game is much more fun when everyone is competitive and driven to win. I sometimes lie to myself and say that playing is the point, but I know that's not true. I had knots in my stomach during the last game I won. It was exhilerating to know that the hard work, strategizing and knowledge of the game was going to pay out. It was one of the closest games I'd played in a while. So I know that I want to play with people that want to win and are enjoying that as much as I am.

The ultimate result of that night, and the future nights when he's allowed to join us, and eventually his brother, someone else's son, and down the line our own son, is a larger group of gamers. So while we lost that night, we won in the long run.