"I think so, too," Mariah agreed, making room for Charlotte. "Everyone knows you aren't supposed to step on a line in hopscotch."
"That's the first thing we told Billy when we taught him to play the game last summer," Charlotte added.
"I think Sarah wanted to change the rules," continued Charlotte, "because she didn't want to have to do four over again. She knew she was going to lose if she had to wait for another turn to try again."
"It was good, though," Mariah said, "that you insisted that stepping on the lines had to be OK for everyone, if it was OK for her."
"Except then no one was having any fun anymore," Charlotte complained. "I wonder why it wasn't fun when we could step on the lines."
Both dolls thought about that for a while.
"Maybe hopscotch is fun because it isn't easy," Mariah suggested. "I mean, when you finish your turn safely, without stepping on a line or losing your balance, or having your stone land in the wrong space, you just feel good that you did it right."
"Success!" Charlotte cried suddenly.
"It's success!" she exclaimed. "It's like when I play my violin, I think. If it's an easy piece, and I only have to practice it a few times before I can play it right every time, I feel good, but if it's something harder, and I have to practice it over and over, it feels wonderful when I finally get it right."
Mariah thought about that for a bit. "I think I know what you mean," she said. "Sometimes I try to write a poem, and the words aren't quite right, or they sound OK, but it doesn't say what I want it to say. I have to erase and change the words. Then, suddenly I find the right word, and I just want to jump up and hug someone!"
"Then I wonder," Charlotte mused, "why Sarah doesn't know that."
"It's as if she is afraid to lose," Mariah pointed out.
"But it isn't winning," Charlotte said, "if you win only because you changed the rules. It isn't the same game."
Both dolls thought about that for a while.
"Do you suppose maybe Sarah has never done anything that was difficult?" Mariah suggested. "If she's afraid of losing, maybe it's because she has never failed at anything. We know losing a game isn't the end of the world. You find that out when you lose."
"Do you think that the human person she lives with never lets her try anything difficult?" Charlotte asked.
Mariah nodded. "Maybe when she goes home from doll school each day," she suggested, "she just has to go and stand on a shelf and look pretty."
"Aren't we lucky?" Mariah went on. "The Writer lets us run around the house when we get home. She lets us write stories and be in them."
"She lets us play music if we want," Charlotte said.
"There are rules for writing and making music," Mariah said. "If we didn't follow the rules for those things, they wouldn't be fun at all."
"Billy gets to take pictures with the special phone camera," Charlotte said. "He had to learn how to take care of the phone and how the camera works. He had to learn how to get the photos into the computer. There are rules for that."
"We can ride Brownie whenever we like, too," Mariah pointed out. "There are rules for that. Brownie might accidentally shake you off, if you don't get on her the right way."
"The Writer lets Veronika use her sewing machine," Charlotte added. "I know, because I've watched her do it. Veronika is very careful. She knows what she's doing. There are rules for that. She is teaching me. The machine won't work if you put the thread in wrong, and you have to be careful, so you don't sew your fingers."
Mariah nodded. "Mandy can use The Writer's knitting needles any time she wants," Mariah pointed out, "as long as she doesn't need them herself. Using knitting needles could be dangerous for Mandy if she didn't know how."
"She has to follow knitting rules, too," Charlotte added. "If you don't do it right, what you make won't be any good."
"Jolena gets to cook when she likes," Mariah said. "She had to learn the rules, so she wouldn't cut off a finger or melt her vinyl."
"She even is allowed to do flips in the air on her skis," Charlotte said. "That could be dangerous for a doll who doesn't know what she's doing! She had to learn all the rules for how to do that."
"Almost anything we do can be dangerous," Mariah said, "but we learn how to do things the right way, so we stay safe, like wearing helmets when we ride bicycles."
"Or like wearing a seat belt in the car," Charlotte said.
"Imagine if people didn't know how to follow the rules for driving automobiles," Charlotte continued. "It would be a mess!"
"Some rules save us time," Mariah agreed, "and help us get along with other dolls."
"I can't even imagine a world without rules," Charlotte said. "I don't always like them, but I'm glad we have rules."
"I'm glad I don't have to go stand somewhere and just look pretty," Mariah said. "That would be fun for about five minutes!"
"Or have to stay in your box!" Charlotte exclaimed.
"It would keep me safe, but it wouldn't be fun." Mariah added flatly.
"I guess there are rules for more things than hopscotch," Charlotte decided. "Maybe we need to play games not just so we learn how to work to do something hard, and that losing isn't the end of the world, but also so we learn how to follow rules."
"Do you know what I think?" Mariah asked. "I think Sarah needs to get out more!"
Charlotte nodded. "And I think," she added, "Sarah needs to learn to follow the rules!"
"I think so, too," Mariah agreed. "Let's see if she will play hopscotch with us again tomorrow!"
Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mandy: Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015
Jolena: Götz Happy Kidz Lena in Aspen
Charlotte: Götz Happy Kidz Anna in Paris
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily at London
Emil: Götz Happy Kidz Emilia
Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz or Classic Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to a charity that supports pediatric cancer, such as CURE Childhood Cancer, St. Baldrick's Foundation or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 2:00 PM Pacific Time.
Image on Mariah's shirt used with permission with thanks, from Free To Be Kids, where human-size shirts with this image are available.
Traffic photo by Sorin Gheorghita on Unsplash.
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Copyright © 2020 by Peggy Stuart
Those vinyl kids must be reading my mind. Two stories in a row that are so relevant to my students. My kids have a very difficult time playing games and doing class work. They absolutely hate being wrong and not winning. We have being playing Hangman and Old Maid. When we play hangman, we play with my TA being one team, usually with all the students on that team. It is always their team that wins, but not always do all of the students realize that Ms. Waters is always going to lose. I mean, my poor man starts with a head, then an eye, another eye, a nose, a smile, then a neck, one arm, two arms, then five fingers (one at a time, of course) on each hand, then a body, a leg, another leg, a foot … I don’t think we have gotten any further than that. That would be 23 letters wrong. So usually they get it long before that. And sometimes I have to cheat by suggesting a letter. One of my students has a real knack for figuring out the word, so sometimes I have to say, “Shhhh.” I try to make sure that each student has a chance to be the one to get the last letter or guess the word. And my TA has them “buying vowels”. I do all of this, even though it is Ms. Waters against everyone else, to make sure that each one of them feels that they are the winner. Sometimes there are tears when one of them feels like they aren’t winning. I keep telling them that the purpose isn’t about winning, but about having fun with friends. We only use words that are on the walls of our room and most of them are on our Word Wall. Each month we add 18 new words to our Word Wall. These are words from the program we use that is designed to use with students who fall into the autism spectrum.
ReplyDeleteWhen we play old maid, it is usually Ms. Waters who ends up being the old maid. So, yes, I do cheat. But I cheat so that each child gets to win and lose, hopefully gracefully.
It is a challenge because it is so important for them to win. Sometimes I am successful and sometimes not, but we keep working at it.
Thank you, Vinyl Kids for addressing these issues.