Richard Hearn considers if a Wizard trumps all

The Boy and Youngest play Rock Paper Scissors in the back of the car as I drive to school. I say they play it. The Boy knows the rules, Youngest™ is simply enjoying the chanting; I’m not sure he’s even making the proper hand movements. I admire the game’s circular arms race; on face value, it turns choosing a weapon into some kind of circle of peace. All can beat, all can be beaten.

“Turns choosing a weapon into a circle of peace”

When, last year, The Boy introduced a rocket launcher, it felt that the game‘s elegant balance had been skewed. In the back of the car today, he‘s introduced ‘Wizard’ with additional ‘abracadabra‘ flourish. This is at least a little bit more ambiguous than rocket launcher. After all, I’d fancy myself with a well-aimed rock against a wizard. (That is not a sentence I thought I’d ever type.)

Youngest™, who doesn’t always pronounce the first consonants of words, copies The Boy.
“Was that Wizard… or lizard?” says The Boy.
“Lizard?” ventures Youngest™.
“Well, I don’t know why you’re saying lizard, abracadabra” says The Boy. “Lizards can’t do magic.”
This is typical of The Boy. He is a stickler for factual accuracy. Especially about something as factual as… er… a Wizard.

The argument carries on. It’s a perfect example of the current state of play between The Boy and Youngest™. A fun game that the Boy initiates with rules not properly explained. Youngest™ thinking that it’s a wholly different game. And then both of them getting annoyed.

When these arguments happen, they’re hard to stop. On the one hand, Youngest™ is the… er… youngest. So I often tell off The Boy, on the basis that he’s older and must know better, although probably, it’s Youngest™ who’s got annoyed for no particular reason.

“Stop winding me up” is a phrase that Youngest™ now says, because we say it to his brother. Youngest™ likes things in a specific way and sometimes The Boy just doesn’t want to play that game. Normally, he’s quite accommodating; there was a time when The Boy would ask: “Can I go to the loo?“ or “Is it okay if I move to that seat?“ and either me or my wife would say “Of course you can” before we realised The Boy is not actually asking our permission, but Youngest™’s.
So we all know, when The Boy introduces a Wizard to the game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, that it’s a controversial moment. A potential source of conflict. The uneasy truce is about to be broken.