Pokemon

A few months ago, Kathryn got a Pokemon trading card in a Burger King kids meal. She asked me what it was and I explained the concept to her. She seemed vaguely interested so, in the interests of education, I picked up a pair of starter decks so we could learn the rules together. See I'm of the opinion that kids learn best when they're at play. This is in no way an original concept, but it dovetails nicely with my own temperment: I prefer having fun to not having fun. So if I can entertain Kathryn while enjoying myself and give her practice in reading, math, and strategy, that's something I'm going to get behind.

We'd only played one game before tonight. In order to learn the game that first time, we didn't hide any of our cards so we could discuss strategy. But tonight we each kept our cards to ourselves. I decided we'd have a nice Daddy-Daughter night out. I took Kathryn to Panera Bread for her favorite potato soup. We grabbed a big table, laid our cards out, and put our soup bowls next to the playing area. So while one person played, the other would eat. Remarkably we didn't have any unfortunate soup/card interactions. It was a delightful night!

Kathryn beat me again tonight. I think she's got a better grasp of the game than I do. She tried to comfort me on the way home, telling me that "you taught me so well that you forgot to remember the game yourself." Surely that must be the reason.