Playing Connect Four with a Four Year Old

I don't let my preschooler win.

This evening, when we she wanted to play Connect Four, I reminded her that:

• we play games for fun
• we're happy for the winner, even if the winner is the other person
• we shake hands and say, "Good game," after we play

Tonight's Connect Four game included a vocabulary lesson. The words were:

persevere 

and 

strategy

After I won the first game, and blocked her early on in the second game, she crossed her arms and stomped off.

"Come back and finish the game," I said. "I haven't won yet. You have lots of discs left. You have to persevere."

And she did.

And then we talked strategy. I had her tell me where she thought I would put my disc, and asked her, "If I put my disc there, where will you put yours?" I explained that I had multiple options as to where to put my disc, and I had her show me all of the possibilities. I even had her tell me where she thought I would put my disc after she made her move. Strategy.

And you know what? She won.