Basically while playing chess, i get along well with many kids.  I give them a very generous handicap (they generally win), However, some kids are stubborn.

Admittidly as a kid i found moving the pawns and the knight tricky.  However, as a kid i never found myself spazzing out that i wasn't allowed 3 moves in a row.

Whats the best way to handle the situation?  Some of the kids really like chess, and i don't want to deprive them.  If i don't let them play, they will generally go and smack our chess board over randomly, and no smacking them is not an option due to legal diffuculties (oh and moral).  This has helped me learn chess notation fluently, as i find i have to record every move.

My current stratagy is to scholars mate them and let someone else play, but i'm thinking maybe instead i should just leave the other kids to no chess havin.

Kids always think rules suck but it's important that they learn to follow them; not just in chess, but in life.  Kids that spaz out when they can't move 3 times in a row, are kids that don't hear the word "No" enough.

 

-Gonnosuke

You are good enough to let them have a chance and beat you. If they want to play their funky 3 moves a go chess, or anything daft, just hammer them at it then offer a proper game. Tell them they are better at the proper style, something like that, OR, lock 'em in a cupboard and feed them fish heads.

don't let them mess with the rules in the first place

I think that you shouldn't let them do this. They will never learn. I have been teaching my nephew for a week and I had him learn by playing games against where he had queen odds and such. If you go easy on them, and let them get away with this three moves in a row stuff, they're never going to learn.

For me, I've been teaching my boys, ages 6 and 5, to play. If they refuse to follow the rules, I refuse to let them play. It's a game, and games have rules, if you aren't following the rules, you aren't playing the game, so why bother? I have more than once gotten up from the table, with every intention of not returning until the next day!

carrot and stick approach

bad behaviour = no chess for a week.

if they are not interested they wont be back so do you need them.

if they are interested then wanting something they cant have will soon bring them into line.

another line is peer pressure. get the kids who do behave to gang up on the miscreants. 

Maybe they are bored.  Go to the endgame, maybe clear the board and just put your king in the center and put an opposing king and queen (or any combination), and play the endgame.  Sometimes kids want to see the end...

You could always try the method shown in "Searching For Bobby Fischer" where he entices and motivates the young Waitzkin by awarding Master points.  By doing something along those lines, you're enforcing the importance of rules, using positive motivation and instilling a sense of self-belief.  All good things, imho.

 

-Gonnosuke

Let them play vs. Lenny Bongcloud!  XD

 

I've been a chess tutor for little kids quite often.  Kids who are serious enough to sit down and play a real game of chess are the kids you should be focused on.  If any kid deviates you from this, then it's their own fault and decision.  When they gain maturity, they may look back at you as a serious teacher, and then perhaps come back with some sort of apology and request that you give them a second chance.  If they don't, then it's a shame but atleast they knew what they didn't want in life sooner than later.

I never found chess hard at all, infact I had it all down in 40 minutes the only rule I didn't learn till later was en-passant.

When I opened this thread, I assumed that you meant all kids, so my immediate reaction was that I'm 13, and I memorized the rulebook. But I see that you are referring to kids about seven down. My approach would be to give them the choice of playing correctly with an exprerienced [ish] person such as the reader, or let them play their move-chess-pieces-around-the-board-randomly game amongst themselves. Only participate in real chess.

Sorry for the lateness in getting back in replies, i have been quite sick.  Anyways, I never let them get away with 3 move crap.  I'm younger by the way (16), so I've actually gotten all their parents to confirm they know nothing about chess.  This is highly useful, as they are less likely to persist that they heard from their parent queens could ram past all their pieces in a given line.

This is like a group of 10 kids by the way (up to 7 at a time), to clear up what i have said.  2 are very interested (However, they often do not come on the same day), 6 are interested in the occasional game, and 2 will scream unless pawns move backwards and side to side.

Generally with those kids I drop what i'm doing to help them, but i guess i shouldn't do this with chess as its just going to be a spaz fest where nobody ends up happy.  I am now considering ways to get them to stop spazzing when they are not responsable enough to have something.  I think my next stop is with parents (or a parenting forum?) to figure out how to get them to stop hitting me.  My current method is the hand to forehead, putting their fists out of reach due to my arms superior length.

I have done one thing though, although not helping with my origional situation. I helped get them into a chess club, so i don't have to worry about them quitting chess (which they like) because they simply didn't have access.

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Thank you gonnosuke for the input on the positive reinforcement.

Thanks Illumino/Gonnosuke as well for the insight on personality.

Baseballfan you have given me an idea, i could simply leave the chessboard and they can stay there until they make a legal move.  However, i would need a second chessboard =/.

Perfectgent, I mostly follow your advice except the peer pressure, might work, although it seems a bit evil.

Basic, shadow, uscgolfer, already do that =/.

Charlie - prehaps that would make it more interesting, good tip!  I stopped chess puzzles because it just fustrated them, but less definite games would be better.

rich man, it took me forever to figure out knights moved two spaces one way, and 1 space another way.  I often ended up with my knight 3 spaces away =(.  Or i made a 3x2 L shape.  But who taught me never gave up, which is part of my motivation.

Maradonna, don't have kids, ever.

no all kids r brats but leave the 1s that r alone

 

Not all kids are brats.

Kids are hitting you?!!  Good grief! If I were teaching kids chess I would quickly drop the kids that dont want to learn or arent interested....and the ones who hit.....well, in today's world I would probably be sued or locked up or both for what would happen to them....

kids are kids.

When I was 5 or 6, I played Battle Chess on a 5 1/4 floppy disk.

 Computer chess programs really don't care how much you spaz out - they still only let you make one move at a time.

Given, you can retract moves (ctrl+T?), but that would still be a greater learning experience than to eschew the rules entirely. 

good idea: buy a chess computer.  Not only would that help out the kids that do care about chess, it would give the kids that don't but insist on playing another place to go.

Reb - If nobody cared tomorrow, i would give them one good whack every time they hit me.  No more, no less.

Thanks randomprecisionj, prehaps crafty would work only looking 1 move ahead?

 

This seems simple to me.  Teach kids the game the right way, including the rules.  I often allow my daughter to take back a move, but only after I show her why it was a bad move in the first place.

This makes me recall something my father use to do for me when I was that age.  If my game was deteriorating and teetering on the edge of doom, he would offer to turn the board around.  That helped me realize there are possibilities...