My little chess champion

 

Watch this space for the photo I will upload as soon as I get my rubbish, slightly lazy and none technological butt in gear. - here it is

We have always wanted Aidan to be good at something, anything, we are not fussy we would accept pretty much anything. In fact I don't actually care a huge amount if he is good at it, I think that's the wrong word.

Maybe it would be better to say that we have always wanted him to have some passion, enthusiasm and motivation with something. Don't get me wrong we are blessed, he is compassionate, great with his siblings, clever, and certainly popular. He just has never had any real passion behind anything he has ever done. Over the years he has enjoyed things, in fact a lot of things, but he has never got that idea of wanting to work hard to get better at something.

Anyway last week end off he trotted to the Cubs district chess tournament, we dropped the girls at a party, and Ali suggested that we should at least go back for the prize giving. We almost didn't bother just assuming that Aidan would not stand a chance.

He is good at chess, but he is not a natural like some kids, it does not help that he insists on talking constantly, and that talking usually consists of him telling his opponent what his next moves will be and why. I know nothing about chess, but I am sure this is not a great tactic to take.

We were stood there listening to the speech, and what a surprise to find that Aidan had won the over 9 year olds section. I don't think Ali or I have won a trophy in our lives, and we have certainly never had one in our house, so I have to say that the trophy is a welcome guest.

Aidan next has a tournament at County level, I know he will try hard, and we are so proud of him. Above all its exciting that he is enjoying chess, wanting to try hard, and actually seeing that its possible for himself to improve through hard work.

Been a bit rubbish at the updating my blog, so bear with me

Aidan had his Ed Psych appointment on Monday, and when I have a little time I will come on to talk about all that was said during the session.

For now I will just talk about a little success. One of the ideas discussed was using newspapers more with him, so he can see as many words as possible, on as regular a basis as possible.

We don't generally have newspapers in the house, mainly because I find the news just too depressing. I get my news fix now a days from a combination of the internet and teletext. Somehow the news seems easier to cope with when its presented in short stories with few pictures.

Taking the advice about newspapers I decided to opt for the more gentle local paper. Asking Aidan to try and read an article is likely to be a big step too far. So his first challenge was to find and highlight 20 "and"s. Now this is a boy that whinges as the mere hint, glimmer or mention of reading or homework. He sat at the table and willingly found the words, even going beyond and finding nearly 40. Now this is unheard of, willing work!

His next challenge was to find all the words with 4 letters or less in one article, again he attacked the challenge with enthusiasm, dare I say it he actually almost seemed to enjoy it.

I am no fool I know this is just small progress, but I always welcome any positive steps, no matter how teeny tiny.