A father reports that his daughter is struggling to keep up in school, but can focus very well on specific things when she finds them interesting. When she becomes aware of Dungeons & Dragons, her father is immediately there to help.
What does the father report? The father and new Dungeon Master in Dungeons & Dragons, solid_slug, shares a personal story on Reddit that he is particularly proud of and wants to share with the community.
His 10-year-old daughter, who is now almost at the end of her primary school years, unfortunately missed a lot of math classes during the COVID period. Since then, her parents have ensured that she receives tutoring in addition to her school lessons. However, she continues to struggle with the subject, also due to her accompanying ADHD.
However, his daughter has a vivid imagination and a great ability to focus on something when she finds it interesting. One day, when she learned about Dungeons & Dragons and asked her father what it was about, he saw “how her face lit up with excitement and all the possibilities.”
Fortunately, the girl has a father who has always wanted to play. He promptly got a starter set, immersed himself in it while working, and then spontaneously started the first game with her one evening: a rogue with purple hair named “Felix” who leaves Neverwinter to embark on a journey to her sick father. What developed from this made the new Dungeon Master incredibly proud.
Excitement is contagious – and opens new doors
How was her first experience in Dungeons & Dragons? Since the first evening, his daughter has been absolutely thrilled with the game. She watches videos on YouTube, draws her rogue who is now accompanied by a dog, and shares her joy with everyone.
Alongside her little brother, who will soon become a companion adventurer on Felix’s journey, the girl also shared her first D&D session in school.
When a teacher, who is a fan of the game, heard this, he said that he would start an afternoon club for it if there was sufficient interest, to introduce even more children to Dungeons & Dragons.
This could not only foster the children’s creativity but also provide suitable support for the girl’s problem.
How does the community react to this story? Under the father’s post on Reddit, user 4kBeard writes that Dungeons & Dragons could be a wonderful tool, in addition to providing a gaming experience, to improve the girl’s math skills, especially her mental arithmetic: “As an added bonus, literally meant, she will learn to calculate well and quickly. All those rolls with the various modifiers.”
DuckTape8856 can also confirm this, having had the same experience: “That’s a good reason to explain to her why she needs mathematics and how it can be fun. I myself have become quite good at math (probability, mental arithmetic with percentages, fractions, additions, subtractions …), thanks to RPGs and tabletop games.”
4kBeard also wants to highlight that based on this described enthusiasm, she will probably play forever and he thinks it’s so cool that her father is involved. “Usually, even the nicest parents just provide the space and snacks. Very few mothers or fathers will ever become the Dungeon Master themselves. Well done!”
The community wishes the father and his daughter continued wonderful moments in the game and lots of fun with their further planning. Dungeons & Dragons for kids can be very different from the implementation in an adult friend group. A mother was also aware of this and reached out to the community before her children’s first D&D experience could go off the rails: Mother plans an adventure in Dungeons & Dragons for her children, from which even adults could learn a lot
