Show home education the childs first school is the F family anay an ay froebel LOSING THE GAME by grace archbold A great outcry and the noise of a scuffle in the childrens playroom reached mrs freemans freemanb Fre emans ears as she bustled about her morn CN ats work these were no un ens al sounds in her household ay as usual she hurried to the rescue A scene of disorder greeted her in the middle of the floor stood an angry little boy blocks were scattered about and as she entered he was kicking them in all directions the two other children frightened and tearful were huddled in a corner what has happened asked their mother severely we were having a game mummy said sue seeing who could make the tallest house with the blocks donalds house fell down and he said it was our fault and it protested mary indignantly yes it was declared donald aLy advancing ancin g threateningly on his sisters you shook it down s diore tears and arguments foll followed l come with me donald said his mother quietly she took him to the living room and soothed him with words of sympathy weeks and months went by and donalds outbursts continued contin ded As he grew older and beyond the blocks age there were always scenes when he lost a game then it began to dawn on his mother that she was not using the right method petting and sympathy were clearly doing him very little good at heart donald was a sportsman he was deeply interested in games of skill and young as he was he already knew the names of outstanding men in the realm of sports and world championships often over the evening meal he would discuss these things with his father who was as eager as his mother to change the boys attitude toward losing the parents finally discussed discuss edthe the problem together donald must be cured now while he was still very young it would not be so easy later both of them were excellent chess players so they decided to arrange an early game for an evening or two when donald should be allowed to sit up and watch them the loser was to be especially careful to show a cheerful spirit over the loss As it happened the father lost very badly and the mother was declared champion there was much rejoicing donald was amazed daddy did not seem to mind losing a bit did he mummy of course not dear we all have to be big and fine enough to Q 3 bravely in fact all the men ar women who have accomplished na the most in both work and play have begun by losing every lost game should make the player more able to win if he keeps calm he can often see where he made his mistakes ds after this when either of donalds parents came across pictures of contests in which rivals were shown shaking hands after a match was over the boys attention was called to them goodwill donald his father told him is always an important part of an enjoyable game for a time mrs freeman supervised the childrens games she rejoiced with the winner pointed out good moves made by the loser and drew attention to fal false S e ones bald gradually learned to kee keep happy whatever the outcome might be |