Children's Games

Little Brother and Big Brother were sitting on the couch in the family room. Little Brother kept pestering Big Brother to play with him.

“Go away!” said Big Brother. “I played your games yesterday. Today I want to watch television.”

Little Brother kicked Big Brother in the shins, saying, “Play with me!” .

“Stop that!” said Big Brother. He doubled up his fist and punched Little Brother in the chest.

“Mommy! Mommy!” called Little Brother. “Big Brother hit me!”

Mommy, drying her hands on a dish cloth, came out of the kitchen and said, “Don’t hit your little brother.”

“He hit me first,” said Big Brother.

“He won’t play with me,” said Little Brother.

“You are just a little boy,” said Big Brother. “You don’t know how to play big boy games.”

“He can play checkers,”.said Mommy. “Why don’t you play checkers with him?”

Mommy set up the board on the coffee table. Kneeling on the floor by the table, Little Brother chose the little red disks – little brothers always assume they will get first choice – and eagerly began to set out his pieces on the checkerboard squares. Reluctantly, Big Brother, still on the couch, leaned forward to set up the black. Mommy went back to the kitchen as Little Brother made the first move. After two moves, Little Brother saw a way to jump one of Big Brother’s pieces and pounced on it. On Big Brother’s turn, he jumped two of Little Brother’s pieces.

“That’s not fair!” cried Little Brother, doubling up his little fists and pounding them on the table.

“It was fair,” said Big Brother. “You made a mistake when you jumped my checker. You don’t look ahead and see what will happen if you make a wrong move.”

Big Brother sat back and waited, as Little Brother continued to jump on openings which put his pieces in jeopardy. In a few minutes he had to crown so many of Big Brother’s checkers that there were no captured pieces to use, and Big Brother merely turned his disks over to show the crowns on the underside. Soon all of Little Brother’s pieces were captured and piled up in front of Big Brother.


Little Brother’s face turned bright red. He reached out and swept all the little round disks, red and black, flying off the board and tumbling to the floor. He stood up and stamped his feet, yelling, “You are mean! You don’t deserve to win! I’m little, and you are big. You should not treat me this way!”

“Cry Baby!” said Big Brother. “If you want to win, you should be more careful when you make your moves. I won fair and square. Now shut up!”

“Meany! Meany!” Little Brother yelled as loud as he could.

“What’s going on here?” asked Mommy, coming out of the kitchen.

“Big Brother wins all the time!” cried Little Brother, bursting into tears. “He never lets me win!”

“Will you let him win the next game?” Mommy asked Big Brother, as she gave Little Brother a comforting hug.

“No,” said Big Brother. “I tried to show him how to make better moves. He won’t learn, and now he throws a temper tantrum. I’m not going to play with him any more.”

“You don’t mean that,” said Mommy. “He’s your brother. You must be nice to him.”

“Not if he throws temper tantrums every time we play,” said Big Brother.

“I’m sorry,” Mommy said to Little Brother. “If you want to play big boy games, you have to stop acting like a baby. Even if you are little, you must learn to play like a big boy.”

End of fable.

What does this silly little story mean? Sibling relations are a problem in every family. All children are born self-centered and selfish. We all know children who throw temper tantrums, until they learn that screaming and stamping feet may work with Mommy but not with other people. Most children learn other ways to get what they want.

Some people never grow up. How about those Republicans? Republican policies for the past eight years were a failure. The majority of Americans voted for changes. The Republicans still maintain that only their tried-and-failed policies will save the economy. President Obama offered conciliatory gestures. What did the Republican Representatives and Senators do? They knew the Democrats had enough votes to pass legislation without their cooperation, but they would not compromise. All the Republicans in Congress said, “You must do it OUR WAY, or we will NOT vote for your programs.”

Just like little kids throwing temper tantrums.