Live data from Hacker News

Let your kids lose: Success inhibits preschoolers’ selective trust

sciencedaily.com

1–10 of 122 posts

Re: Let your kids lose: Success inhibits preschoolers’ selective trust

#4

Solution: play something that has essentially zero strategy, where who wins is close to random. Like Ludo or Yahtzee. My daughter often wins at Ludo, but it's not because I let her. She also often loses.

If you can do it convincingly, you can probably play games involving some skill if you adopt a consistent and beatable strategy. Like Uno by playing the oldest legal card in your hand and choosing a color you hold randomly for wilds, or Guess Who by always choosing an attribute that about 1/4 of remaining characters share.

Re: Let your kids lose: Success inhibits preschoolers’ selective trust

#7
Confessing I didn't read the article, but from my parenting experience - Beating your kids at games teaches them one very important thing about real life: to learn a skill you have to practice repeatedly. This inevitably involves frustration and persistence which any human being should be prepared to deal with in life.

Re: Let your kids lose: Success inhibits preschoolers’ selective trust

#8

Solution: play something that has essentially zero strategy, where who wins is close to random. Like Ludo or Yahtzee. My daughter often wins at Ludo, but it's not because I let her. She also often loses.

That's a partial solution. It doesn't help them with developing winning strategies if the outcome is random. Nor does it help them develop determination; nor, I wager, resilience to losing.

I want my kids to beat me, not just win by chance.

Re: Let your kids lose: Success inhibits preschoolers’ selective trust

#10

Solution: play something that has essentially zero strategy, where who wins is close to random. Like Ludo or Yahtzee. My daughter often wins at Ludo, but it's not because I let her. She also often loses.

Its not a solution, I believe. Random success is not based on decision making skills. Random success will teach child to make random decisions.

Just not be afraid to really lose to your child in game which at start equally unknown for both you and your child. Let your child to learn how to win and learn how to learn to win.

As an example of such a learning: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11653538

If you or your child do not like chess, you can choose any other game, which allows your child to use his fluent mind strengths to win you. Just stop thinking that child is small, stupid and unable to win a fair game. He really can win, but not the games where your crystallized mind has its advantages.

Post reply on HN