What I Learned From Solitaire
My 12-year-old son recently came to me with a request, “Can you show me how to play Solitaire?”
I stared at him for a moment. First, how was it possible that I had never taught him or his older sister how to play Solitaire? I came from a long line of Solitaire players and the game was incorporated into much of my childhood. Today, my family plays a lot of games, especially card games; Exploding Kittens, Zeus on the Loose, Resistance, Uno and most recently, Unstable Kittens. A few times every year, we drive two-hours away to attend pre-release for Magic the Gathering, another card game. Yet somehow, I had neglected to show my children how to play the most famous card game of them all, Solitaire.
My second thought; in today’s world, was Solitaire still relevant? Kids these days have new card games. They are surrounded by electronics. They have a never ending supply of television on demand. When I was a kid, we had exactly three channels, ABC, NBC, and CBS. Once in awhile, if the reception was good, we might get the Canadian PBS channel. Cartoons were played on Saturday mornings and I could watch Giligan’s Island for about thirty minutes when I came home from school, if the bus was running on time. For kids in today’s world, I was not sure if Solitaire really had a spot.
