Silly Card Games and the Great Debate

We acquire so much stuff for our children based on hopes and dreams rather than reality. Cleaning out a cupboard, I came across a set of cheap card games. The boxes had come unglued and the cards were all mixed up. I began the tedious process of sorting the cards out with the intent to fix the boxes and get them organized so we could play the games. As I sorted, I became more and more stressed and agitated. The cards are very cheaply made and some had some damage. The illustrations and colors used on the cards were croweded and overstimulating and forced you to look carefully at the cards rather than being able to work with them at a glance like traditional cards. I began dread having to count out each set to make sure each game had all their cards. As I got more stressed, I realized that we rarely even played these games. We have other games, and the children are old enough to use traditional cards. We could play most of these card games on a single deck of traditional cards rather than having a separate, illustrated deck for each game. I decided to send them to the recycling bin. Yet, among the stress was indeed a happy memory, which is why I got the card games to begin with. I had to dig deep into my memory, but I found it: As a child, my beloved aunt was single and lived in her well-kept, charming vintage mobile home. I loved the days when she would invite my cousin and me over for the day. She didn't keep us in toys. Instead, she had a drawer of simple art supplies, a neat paper village we could set up, PBS on her antenna TV, and some children's card games like Old Maid and Go Fish. In the quiet simplicity of her cozy home, the summer's heat making us drowsy as we lay on the immaculate carpeting catching the breeze from the fan, my cousin and I would pass the time teaching ourselves how to play those card games. It was that memory I wanted to share with my children, but it wasn't one they wanted to make for themselves. For one thing, this is their home full of their more exciting toys and games, not the simplicity of a maiden aunt's hospitality. I tried passing on the memory through things rather than storytelling. Instead of a story they could ruminate on, I gave them something to be responsible for. Something they didn't want to begin with. So, off with the guilt and the game. Lesson learned, and less in my house.