Solving a Rubik's Cube

The 3 by 3 Rubik's cube has intrigued me as a child and young adult but I have never gotten to solving it. I have been impressed by people who seem to solve it with so much ease and at a fascinating speed. I also grow to believe that people who can solve the cube are geniuses and probably have fantastic spatial intelligence. I admit that I have extremely poor spatial intelligence, and one tell-tale sign is my lack of direction sense for driving. Years ago, I heard that it is possible to solve the cube by following some algorithms. Hmm, so solving the cube is no longer a mystery and can be learnt! And it means that it is not exclusive to geniuses. I bought a cube at that time but still could not go beyond solving one face, and it eventually became a white elephant. That was at least 5 years ago.
This year, my eldest son's classmates starting playing with the cubes, and I am secretly happy that he is also attracted to it. I gladly took out my old cube for him to try. I thought that he could learn it from his friends and I wouldn't want to bother myself to solving it. However, I couldn't resist finding out the 'truth' this time, and together, we watched a Youtube video on it. We didn't understand the instructions that were also putting us off. I reverted to my deep belief that this cube is meant for geniuses. Not admitting defeat, my son pestered me to buy a new cube after the old one dropped and broke into pieces when his younger brother was also trying his hands at it. The new cube came with instructions on solving, but understanding the solution was not easy. The instructions were vague and there were full of symbols that were again putting me off.
However, my son's determination to solve the cube spurred me. Seeing that he was unable to do it on his own, I started to spend hours studying the instructions to figure out the step-by-step algorithms to solving it. It was painful but in the end, the cube was solved! I did it! Not particularly exhilarating but I am glad that I have debunked the myth that the Rubik's cube is only solvable by geniuses! It can be done by following instructions! It is funny because I got myself so determined to solve the cube that has enticed me for so many years but could not solve because of a belief that I cannot do it. It is different this time because of my son. It is because of him that I decided to learn. I wanted to teach him. Or maybe I wanted him to show him that it can be done - 'if his mum can do it, so can he', and so that he wouldn't feel less capable than his classmates who can do it. He is certainly better at solving it than me now, in terms of speed. I am still clumsy at turning the faces while trying to follow the algorithms on the instruction sheet with my glasses for presbyopia.
What is the moral of the story? First, the Rubik's cube is not something exclusive to smarter people, it is something that can be learnt by anyone who cares to learn it. Second, having children can push us to do things that we didn't believe we could do! Interesting!