1m2aSandbox

Sunday afternoon the girls were engaging in typical free-time play – making a monster mess out of the house, with elaborate games stretching through multiple rooms.

At one point in the afternoon the girls got out our backgammon set and opened it up. Lest you be impressed with the fact that my six-year-old can play backgammon, let me assure you- she cannot. But the girls enjoy taking the pieces of our old, solid, velvet-lined case and using them for their own inventions.

On this occasion, the girls had divided the pieces up into the Red Side and the White Side, and the game eventually morphed into a fierce battle of some kind. “Yeah, and the White Side is fighting for freedom from the Red Side!” Cora enthused. “The White Side wants its freedom! It wants to be free!”

Maddie played along for about ten seconds, then said, “Wait a minute, Cora. Ok, so the White Side is fighting for its freedom. What does it want? What’s going to happen after it’s free? What does do they plan to do with their freedom, and how do they become better than the people who ruled them? If they don’t think ahead, they’re going to be no better than the Red Side.”

Obviously someone’s been listening in Ancient Civilizations class.