Chutes and Ladders

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

One of my nephews emailed me this story from The Dallas Morning News:
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When the kids were very young, we often sat on the floor and played a board game called Chutes and Ladders.You probably know it. It’s one of the simplest of games. You thump a spinner and move ahead to the designated space on the board.

If you’re lucky enough to land at the bottom of a ladder, you get to climb on up and skip ahead several spaces. If you’re unlucky and land at the top of a chute, oops, you go sliding back toward the start.We still laugh about Chutes and Ladders in our family because Corey was the world’s worst Chutes and Ladders player. To put it mildly, our son had issues with “impulse control.” (I’m sure I must have learned that phrase in some parenting book. You and Your Future Delinquent, or some such.)As a 3- or 4-year-old, Corey loved landing on those ladders. But oh my, if he landed on a chute, he would either 1) steadfastly refuse to admit landing there, or 2) jump up, kick the board and storm off yelling something about “stupid game.”Often it was 1), then 2). Yet still we played the game, over and over. I always saw it as a good exercise in teaching the kids patience and sportsmanship.But as the years have gone by, I have come to think of Chutes and Ladders differently — more as a metaphor for the decisions that kids make in life.With the chance to observe my own children grow into adults, as well as a wide variety of their friends and cousins and classmates, it became clear that growing up is chock full of chutes and ladders.In fact, I suppose we never grow too old to face chute-and-ladder decisions.Last week, we got a couple of extreme examples of the chute principle.
On a national level, we witnessed one of the most stunning chute plummets of all time — from superstar NFL quarterback to jobless felon.You just wish Michael Vick had looked around for a moment and realized he was putting himself and his fortune atop a chute when he began his ridiculous foray into dogfighting.Similarly, on a local level, a 15-year-old girl bravely we! nt publi c last week to warn other teens about the chute of underage drinking and drunken driving.

Priscilla Hatcher’s best friend was killed in the resulting crash, along with two other teens. Another good friend was left paralyzed.

Chutes and ladders. Chutes and ladders.

Unfortunately, the actual board game Chutes and Ladders appeals only to very young children — certainly too young for lectures on good decision-making.

You wish there were an adolescent version of the game, where kids really could begin to think about “ladder decisions” and “chute decisions.” As a parent, your work would be mostly done if you could just teach your child to pause before each action and ask: “Chute? Ladder?”

Some are so obvious. Ditching school? A definite chute. Turning off the TV and tackling that dreaded homework. A dutiful ladder.

Others are harder to gauge at first. Attention from the popular kids at school? Ladder! Smirnoff Ice in the parking lot with the popular kids? Oh, chute.

Some start so small. Tiny tattoo on the hip? More cute than chute. One more on the arm. Uh-oh, a steeper slide. Tattoo gargoyle crawling up the neck? Express chute to minimum wage.

And some things start as ladders — “Congratulations on your new MasterCard!” — and end up as chutes — “Notice of Past Due Account.”

Sadly, for so many young people, these chutes lead off into some pretty deep holes, where ladders out are hard to come by — criminal records, addiction, ruined credit, unemployment, teen parenthood.

So you just pray they find tall ladders first — an interest in school, quality friends, summer jobs, a place of worship, a sense of purpose.

Chutes and ladders. Chutes and ladders. If only we could teach our kids it’s not a game.
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The story was written by Steve Blow. If you would like to send him a comment his email address is ">.post.

Love,
Brother Bill

About the Author:

Bill Walker is the creator and webmaster of Everyday Christianity, which provides ministry and resources for Christian families. This article may be reprinted in your e-zine, e-book and/or on your web site so long as it includes this resource box and a link back to the website at http://www.EverydayChristianity.com.