After an exhaustive search for a used version of Candy Land for Dante, I bought a new copy for him last weekend. I remember loving Candy Land and board games in general. I was so excited to teach Dante how to play…I didn’t remember how though. So after he went to bed Nathan and I opened up the box and went through it all.
Here is what I expected to see…the board from my youth:
Instead I saw this…and it took me 3 minutes to figure out where the path to Candy Castle was.
Truly, I was confused for a moment working out where the trail was and what all the visual clutter was about. Candy Land has been turned into a still frame from a video game. While on the surface this post may seem to be about nostalgia; it is actually about these little surprises that cause me deep parental panic.
How I am supposed to guide my kids through a world that – in the most unexpected places – is made up of intense sensory clutter…especially when I seek on my own to create a world that is far simpler?
I have no idea. What I do have is a three year old who mastered Candy Land in two days. He bested me in a series of 3 Friday night. Oh, just maybe I am panicking about the wrong things…
