The Child Prodigy



My son Mickey is six years old and is very astute for his age. He has an understanding of the household finances, the grocery list and what can be purchased at which stores, and a grasp on how much money it takes to buy various big ticket items such as electric trains and Power Rangers playsets.


That said, he asked me to teach him how to play chess about six months ago. It was rough getting him to remember which piece could move in which direction for the first couple of months. It was fun to play against him and spank him while talking smack. I got to try new strategies and ways of getting him to lose his queen early in the game and then I could move in for the kill.


He started to read chess strategy on the internet ( I forgot to mention that he taught himself to read at the age of 3) and play practice games and he got progressively better as the days went by. He started to get tougher and tougher to beat and I would find my smack talking would decrease dramatically.


Recently though, he stepped it up a notch and reached down deep to find something and he is now beating me half of the times that we play. This kid is going to be a very special boy one day, I believe world changing special when he grows up. I will be able to look back proudly on instances like this and smile.