Conversations With A Kid.
This past weekend, I had The Nephew in for a play-date. He had asked earlier, when they had a long weekend from school, but his behavior hadn’t been good and his parents said ‘no’. Which meant I got punished too, dammit. But I finally got him this past weekend.
So, okay, whenever I play board-games or tabletops with my sister, she always wins. So I asked TN to play Risk - (we have LotR and Dr. Who, he picked Dr. Who) - and form an alliance to kick Sis’ butt. I helped him make strategic moves and explained to him why they were strategic, to help get his brain thinking that way. When she realized she was done for, my sister went hardcore and just started a slaughter across the board. She adopted a maniacal laugh that was pretty creepy, tbh. After we wiped her out, we went against each other, but I still kept giving him pointers, because 2-player is what he usually plays with his friend and I wanted him to have some good tips to kick that kid’s butt! Cuz I’m a good aunt like that.
At one point, I told him to fortify Australia by redeploying men there, but the only way to get his redeployments out was through me. So I gave him permission to kill of some of my guys. Later, he wanted to take all of North America. “Can I have your permission to take these two territories from you?” he asked. Taking those territories did nothing to beat Sis - all it did was give him all of a continent. “No, that gives you an advantage once our alliance is over.” - “But do I just have your permission?” - “No, I see what you’re doing!” - “But otherwise I don’t have a move.” - “Then your turn is over. Or you can try for those territories, but then our truce is over.” - “But can’t I just have your permission?!” LOL
Then during dinner he read me some of the short stories he has been writing. (He brought a folder of finished stuff he wants me to type up for him). One was about an alien-kid forced into the army and we talked about Ender’s Game and he said, “It’s just like the Germans did to kids.” I said, “Are you talking about the Hitler Youth?” - “Yeah. I read a book about it. If you did one little thing, they made you join their kid army.” Then we talked about Number the Stars and another book about hiding Jewish children under the schoolhouse. He is very interested in all of that now and I am going to make him a list of middle-grade and YA books that would be appropriate for him to read about WWII/The Holocaust. He wants to write a story that reflects that same sort of thing happening, but set it in a sci-fi universe. Like he’s only 10 and he understands subtext/metaphor, I’m so proud of him.
For our movie, he picked CA: Civil War, which he hadn’t seen yet. That invoked a whole other conversation where at one point Tony and Steve were arguing about Wanda and Tony said, “She’s a weapon,” and Steve said, “She’s a kid,” and TN yelled, “Yeah, Tony, she’s literally a kid!” Then we paused and talked about Tony’s side - that he blamed himself for Ultron and thought someone needed to be giving them rules - and Steve’s side - where he believes the Accords would be used to make rules about how powered people could live their lives, that they could make a person illegal just because of who they are - and TN totally got it. “That’s what the Nazis did!” And was I like, “Yep. And Steve won’t watch that happen all over again.” TN also got upset that they wanted to arrest Bucky for something that wasn’t his fault, that he was brainwashed. He totally got that Bucky hates himself for what he has done, even though he had no control. I asked him, “What do you do though, when it’s not his fault but he could still be used for evil?” He didn’t have an answer for that. Maybe there is no good answer for that.
Also, he was selected to represent his school in the county’s academic Quizbowl tournament this weekend! I love my little man so much and I’m so proud of him!
So, okay, whenever I play board-games or tabletops with my sister, she always wins. So I asked TN to play Risk - (we have LotR and Dr. Who, he picked Dr. Who) - and form an alliance to kick Sis’ butt. I helped him make strategic moves and explained to him why they were strategic, to help get his brain thinking that way. When she realized she was done for, my sister went hardcore and just started a slaughter across the board. She adopted a maniacal laugh that was pretty creepy, tbh. After we wiped her out, we went against each other, but I still kept giving him pointers, because 2-player is what he usually plays with his friend and I wanted him to have some good tips to kick that kid’s butt! Cuz I’m a good aunt like that.
At one point, I told him to fortify Australia by redeploying men there, but the only way to get his redeployments out was through me. So I gave him permission to kill of some of my guys. Later, he wanted to take all of North America. “Can I have your permission to take these two territories from you?” he asked. Taking those territories did nothing to beat Sis - all it did was give him all of a continent. “No, that gives you an advantage once our alliance is over.” - “But do I just have your permission?” - “No, I see what you’re doing!” - “But otherwise I don’t have a move.” - “Then your turn is over. Or you can try for those territories, but then our truce is over.” - “But can’t I just have your permission?!” LOL
Then during dinner he read me some of the short stories he has been writing. (He brought a folder of finished stuff he wants me to type up for him). One was about an alien-kid forced into the army and we talked about Ender’s Game and he said, “It’s just like the Germans did to kids.” I said, “Are you talking about the Hitler Youth?” - “Yeah. I read a book about it. If you did one little thing, they made you join their kid army.” Then we talked about Number the Stars and another book about hiding Jewish children under the schoolhouse. He is very interested in all of that now and I am going to make him a list of middle-grade and YA books that would be appropriate for him to read about WWII/The Holocaust. He wants to write a story that reflects that same sort of thing happening, but set it in a sci-fi universe. Like he’s only 10 and he understands subtext/metaphor, I’m so proud of him.
For our movie, he picked CA: Civil War, which he hadn’t seen yet. That invoked a whole other conversation where at one point Tony and Steve were arguing about Wanda and Tony said, “She’s a weapon,” and Steve said, “She’s a kid,” and TN yelled, “Yeah, Tony, she’s literally a kid!” Then we paused and talked about Tony’s side - that he blamed himself for Ultron and thought someone needed to be giving them rules - and Steve’s side - where he believes the Accords would be used to make rules about how powered people could live their lives, that they could make a person illegal just because of who they are - and TN totally got it. “That’s what the Nazis did!” And was I like, “Yep. And Steve won’t watch that happen all over again.” TN also got upset that they wanted to arrest Bucky for something that wasn’t his fault, that he was brainwashed. He totally got that Bucky hates himself for what he has done, even though he had no control. I asked him, “What do you do though, when it’s not his fault but he could still be used for evil?” He didn’t have an answer for that. Maybe there is no good answer for that.
Also, he was selected to represent his school in the county’s academic Quizbowl tournament this weekend! I love my little man so much and I’m so proud of him!