"No Matter What I Do, It Seems Like a Bad Decision"
Our youngest son has been studying Westward Expansion in his social studies class. This week, as part of their learning, the students participated in a simulation of the Oregon Trail. There were rounds of "play" and the students would make decisions, take action, and then see what else happened to them in the round. Now, my son is familiar with this style of play as he and his brothers play Dungeons & Dragons together. However, the Oregon Trail simulation had my son in tears at school.
When we discussed it later he explained that he tried his best to make good decisions about what to do on the trail and yet, he still would get delayed or face dangers he couldn't overcome. All he wanted to do was succeed and it seemed that no matter what he did, he was losing. It was hard to keep his emotions in check and calm when faced with these odds that were out of his control.
So, we talked about the goals of the simulation and I helped him to realize that his goal was NOT about winning this game (a TOUGH concept for an elementary school student.) Rather, his goal was to learn about the difficulties faced by the pioneers trying to travel the Oregon Trail. In fact, when he did hit obstacles, it was exactly there to teach him how hard it was on the Oregon Trail.
And all of this reminded me of how hard it is for EVERYONE when we feel like we are putting in our best effort and not winning or succeeding. But the question is - are we really not succeeding or are we just not looking at the situation with the right perspective of what our goal should be?
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