We visited a science center recently and one of the interactive exhibits had one of the old tavern puzzles. The Old Shackles variety to be specific. Both of the kids were instantly smitten with them and that’s when the Wife informed them that we had a whole bunch of them at home.
I’d totally forgotten about them until she had mentioned it. We not only had the same one as at the science center, but a number of others. I recall first coming across them in high school. They were fun to work out even if they were all twists on the same basic principles. The lone exception was the Patience Puzzle– a very appropriately named challenge. It literally took years of on and off work on it before I finally solved it.
Anyway, I pulled all of them out for the kids and they had a blast with them for about 5 minutes. When they realized that they couldn’t figure them out, the puzzles lost their luster. The boy, particularly, got very frustrated with my old version of Old Shackles. He had been able to solve the one at the science center, but couldn’t solve mine. Naturally, something had to be wrong with mine.
It’s a familiar pattern with him now. Any kind of new challenge turns into a tremendous exercise in frustration. He thinks he should be a master of whatever he chooses to do and when reality bites, well, he doesn’t like it.
As for me, I’ve managed to solve them all again, including the Patience Puzzle. If that means that I’ve learned patience, then there’s still hope for the boy.