Born to the purple

I just survived a game of animal tile memory that involved tears, yelling, 3 complete abandonments of the table and 1 (almost) five year old.


The situation was completely untenable on more than one occasion as rules were folded and losses taken very badly. There were lessons for all players about the relationship between winning, fun and losing.


It made me think about young people born into positions of great power. Caligula, Nero and Commodus mainly. Those guys all grew up knowing that one they day they were going to hold absolute power over the people and happenings around them. Importantly all the adults around them knew that too. How often do children hear no? I wonder how much of a factor in the growth, character and decisions as adults this is?

It does seem important to be understanding and patient with children, clearly though there is a way to be too tolerant.

I wonder if Nero ever lost a game of animal tile memory?