My seven year-old son taught me some lessons about life the other day.  He was stuck in his Ninetendo DS Pokemon game outside the gates of Eterna city. 

We had to collaborate on some potential problem-solving ideas to help him to find his next move.  It was through this exercise and by observing him play the game that I realized, Pokemon has a lot of life lessons to teach.

As the player moves through the game (or through life), little battles come up and he has to choose moves and tools to deal with them.  Some are larger battles and more energy and resourcefulness is needed.  The player never seems to reach the final goal - much the same as life ... it just continues on.

I learned not to discount his silly video game, but to use it to help him learn skills that he'll need all throughout his life.  Heck, it even helped me to thnk about what move I'd use against someone I am battling at work or elsewhere.  Run away is also one of the options and I saw my son use it once. 

In the end, I discovered that we can defeat any foe and win any battle if we keep our perseverence and refuse to quit.  Sometimes you win by conceding a battle to a superior opponent and going safely home.  We're never too old to learn and we can learn from our children just as often as we teach them.