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Show Successful J arentltooi ' - 4 1 MRS. CATHERINE CONRAD EDWARDS 5 v; - j Associate Editor, Parents' Magazine CHILDREN of nine and over love to play card games, and there is no early evening pastime which can bring adults and youngsters together to-gether In a more companionable fashion. The children may lack some of the skill at making the most of their hands but the rules of chance keep the distribution of the winning cards and the' luck at play fairly even. Take the game of hearts where the object is to lose as many tricks as possible so you won't have to take In hearts, each of vhich counts one against you, or the queen of spades which counts thirteen against you. You begin the game by giving to the player on your left the three cards in your hand that are the greatest liability. . How youngsters love to slip the dreaded black queen or the ace of hearts to an unsuspecting unsuspect-ing parent! And it's test of your for you to set him the good examJ ' ? of playing by the rules, ifh? tinues to lose, try another game ! ' r: which he may have better lUck '' for which his aptitude is gje tr Certainly there is little fun fo K child in losing all the time. S A We haven't too high a regard 1 ' for solitaire because it can be- come too great a time killet But for a child recovering from an illness it can be just what the doctor ordered in the way of an ' engrossing occupation that is I ' quiet and doesn't cause eye strain as too long reading in might do. Children as young as six can play the simplest forms ol solitaire, and a little later there are several games I which help in learning simple arith. metic. Here is one that involves ' both addition and the "sevens" mul. tiplication table. It is called; Magic Seven. Lav out t.h '' child's sportsmanship when he finds the worst possible cards handed on to him. At first, he may not be able to take this goodnaturedly, for sportsmanship is an acquired trait and is usually learned the hard way! But eventually he learns to lose as well as to win and then the game becomes a lively family free-for-all. Is it ever wise to underplay your hand to enable a child to win? Well, in the very beginning, perhaps, before be-fore he is old enough or is sufficiently sufficient-ly familiar with the game to know what you are doing. But after he has learned the game, it Is better one at a time. Whenever a seven or any number of consecutive cards totaling seven or a multiple of seven appear, they are thrown out. This demands counting backward from the last card played each time, aj i well as forward, for while 9, 3, 8, 10 equals 30 and is not a multiple ol seven,' it will be found that the last three cards alone total 21 and maj 1 therefore be removed. In this game, ' "Old Sol" wins unless all the cards P can thus be eliminated. Children soon learn that cheatir.i robs solitaire of its fun, a dis:cvr:i 1 1 they will carry over into games it lu a real opponent. |