I just thought I'd mention that my eldest son, who is 4 yaers old, is now asking me on a regular bases to "play go". For him, this currently means we take turns placing stones where he wants them placed. He got interested in the game because he keeps seeing me play online, but it will be a long while before he begins to learn the actual rules, I think. Right now he's just happy to spend the time playing with daddy.

I really wish I had thought to record these "lessons" with him. It's not just the interesting patterns we build together, but the statements he makes about the game while we play. A couple gems:

"Your stones go on the inside, daddy, and mine go on the outside. That way I'm winning!"
(After telling me where to place my stone) "We're making good shapes, daddy!"
(Looking at the 9x9 board on the opposite side of my cardboard board) "That side is for Checkers! We need to turn it over!"

I can see a path towards actually teaching him the rules, but it will take time (probably years). I'd rather he enjoys the process than force him into playing "proper" moves.

It's a nice reminder that go is not all about improving. There's a social aspect to it that I really enjoy.

My daughter, who just turned 3 in December, has been "playing go" with me in the same way for several months now. Sometimes she plays stones on the intersections, sometimes she scatters them on the board and says we're making a cake with them. Sometimes I ask her how to capture a stone, or put it in atari.

We sometimes play on my board, sometimes we play on the iPad.

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Occupy Babel!

With my 4 year olds, I have played some surprisingly "correct" 13x13 and 9x9 games. I tried first to explain atari-go, but that did not go down well at all - they thought it was too boring. Then one of them thought of a race to build houses by herself - she wanted to build one with white stones, I built one with black stones. We would alternate placing stones, and who would have bigger area (house) at the end of the game wins. Before checking house sizes, we return visitors from other colors house to the correct one. And reshaping the house to regular room shapes (rectangles) for seeing who has bigger is fun too

Funnily the house building does not start from edge, but by mapping prospective positions on 3-5 line and then enlarging those positions with various jumps or extensions to here and there. Marking the exact edges at endgame is more boring and I will help there. Of course I could spoil the play by cutting everything into shreds and turning it into a big tsumego contest, but as long a each player has 1-2 separate positions they work to enlarge this works out quite well. Too big jumps can be responded by inviting some visitors to the other house...

As can be seen form above, this requires some storytelling and pointers/encouragement during play from adult and cooperative play by adult (btw, the play is around blitz speed), but I prefer the above to just scattering the stones everywhere and losing half of them when the kids want to do what daddy does.

where to draw the line... kids are capable of learning some quite complex things at super young ages (usually younger than we tend to believe), but we fear that enforcing rules can take the fun out of it. And it can be such a huge debate as to whether kids should have fun as kids, or whether kids should be molded/trained at the expense of fun (or if somehow the two could be combined), etc.

When using software (ipad, etc.), rules are being forced -- must play on intersections, can't play suicide, captured stones are auto removed from board, etc. But its more difficult on a real board.

I too find it tough to enforce these simple rules with young kids. Its just not in my personality to spoil their fun
So I don't have the best example and track record, yet I still firmly believe kids can be taught properly at very young ages.

I think Tim's example shows that we can teach and enforce the very basics and still have fun with our kids. And I still applaud anyone's efforts to teach their kids -- even if they are "doing it wrong"

Thank you for this thread, it makes me smile and remember the early days of the courtship between me and go, on the one side, and my daughter on the other.

From the time she arrived we were blessed in so many ways, but we were relevantly blessed in three. First, from the earliest age she never put anything that was not food into her mouth. Second, she was (and is) amazingly dextrous with her fine motor skills. Finally, she had a very good attention span.

Very quickly, she and I would play go. I would always respond to her random moves with good shapes, hoping to reinforce something in her. We would not complete games, but we would get pretty far.

I will never forget the first day of the 2nd Denver US Go Congress. She was 2 years old, not quite 2 and a half. Janice Kim, pro 3 dan was actively running Samarkand at the time, and was holding court in the vendors room with her equipment all around her. I had met Janice many years before, and I introduced her to my daughter. I think Janice jokingly asked if she played, and before I knew it, Janice was looking down accross the a board at my 2 year old. Everything was very light, and many of the other early arrivers were smiling at the scene.

The mood changed when the challenger, unprompted, slowly and carefully bowed her page boy haircut covered head to the teacher, which was quizzically returned. Janice was watching now, and noticed the tiny fingers, index below and middle finger on top, deftly select a black stone from the bowl. Her eyes grew wide as the hand went high in the air and came crashing down, finding a star point (no idea which one) in a smooth, decisive movement. Janice stared at the challenge, but my daughter was expressionless, eyes on the board.

Elegantly, the amused pro placed her first stone, which was immediately countered by another finely crafted thunderbolt. Janice was impressed and the crowd was amused.

I do not recall how long the "game" lasted, but I do know the pride I felt at the time, and the hope I had for her go future.

Sadly, while her interest in go is greater than she will normally admit, and we have enjoyed some wonderful Pair Go games and she has played in a few tounaments, that Saturday afternoon in Denver may have been her peak.

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My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle

This thread made me smile so much

I've recently started "playing" with my 4 year old as well. His interest has been piqued by watching me play online.

I can still beat him, but only because I haven't properly explained the rules of ko to him.

I am finding the Ipad really useful in this regard, for go as well as chess. When we play on a real board, it is a free-for-all, in both games, but he is learning the correct moves naturally and easily when "constrained" by the rules within the Ipad.

I sincerely hope he grows to love both games, they have made my life a richer one.