Does your school, church, temple, or community center have a chess club?  If it does then I strongly recommend you encourage your daughter to learn to play chess, and believe it or not, age 6 is just the right age.

Chess is unlike other board games in that it is a combination of art, sport, and science.  Yes, I know this might sound a bit heady and perhaps too much for young girls–but if you ever saw the girl/boy dynamics of ages 6-10 at a chess tournament, you would be running out to buy your daughter a chess board.  My eye-opener was my daughter’s first tournament which she played this past weekend.

While girls have made great strides in many extracurricular activities and sports, I was amazed that very few girls play chess. I admit, had I not been at this tournament, I would probably shrug off the lack of girl participants as insignificant.  Out of one hundred and forty players, only about 10 were girls. As the mother of a tween girl, I was taken back by boys’ dominance of chess. In some cases I was also amazed at the boys’ ability to intimidate their girl opponents.  Because the players sit across only a small table from one another, the boys’ ability to close off socially-no smile, no small conversation before the match (how old are you?  how long have you been playing? etc.), was unnerving to most of the girls. It was a throwback to another era.

My daughter, age 7 and her three teammates were awarded medals for their 4 hours and 4 chess matches–a couple of wins and a few draws.  But all of the trophies went to their boy opponents who racked up quite a number of wins.  The game of chess encourages critical and logical thinking, decision making, and time management.  If you think girls do not need to embrace these skills at a very early age; think again.  Those little boys-their same age male counterparts- are getting this training now.

So one of the gifts my daughter will be getting this holiday season is an electronic chess game.  She can play it with her teammates, herself, with me, with anyone–but she will play.  Whether or not she beats the next boy she plays is not the goal.  The goal is that she will be better equipped to play.  Chess is not only about saving your king; it’s also about the power of your little queen.

Contributed by Healthful Mom