Monday, May 23, 2011

I Guess I'm Not Sweet As Candyland

One of Jackson's favorite games is Candyland. I don't have anything against the game, per se, but sometimes the game gets a little old. Like most parents, I play the game, but it's definitely not my first choice of activities.

Sunday morning Jackson and I woke up early Sunday morning and we decided to play a little bit before we got ready for church. When Jackson decided he wanted to play Candyland I agreed. I figured if it made him happy, then that was good enough for me.

We hadn't been playing for 30 seconds when Jackson piped up with, "Mama, you're going to let me win, right?" Up until that point, I thought that Jackson was aware of how the game was supposed to work. You draw a card, move either one or two spaces to the color on the card and then wait for your next turn. Well, apparently Jackson thought that since he was playing that he "had" to win the game.

Have you ever tried to cheat on Candyland?

It's not that I don't want Jackson to win, but I also want him to understand that he's not always going to win. And that's okay. Jackson took a very strong early lead, but unfortunately he drew one of the picture cards that was near the beginning of the board. He hemmed and hawed, but finally relented to moving his card back. He was so worried that he wasn't going to win that he could hardly stand it. He got close to catching back up, but unfortunately I reached the finish line before he did which made me the lucky winner of Candyland.

He wasn't too happy with me for winning, but I didn't give in. I just (gently) explained to him that we were both taking turns drawing cards, and that for this game I just happened to make it to the end before he did, and that it wasn't really a big deal, it was just a matter of chance.

I definitely want Jackson to grow up winning in life, but it's such a fine line to walk with teaching him lessons about losing. Both Jeremy and I let Jackson "win" all the time with stuff like racing, Simon Says, hide and seek and stuff like that. He definitely has a very strong self esteem, and I am pretty confident that he's growing into a well rounded kid. I just also want to make sure that he knows that in life he's not always going to win, and that although losing isn't fun, it's not the end of the world and that life will go on.

I guess in the end, that doesn't make me such a mean Mom!

2 random thoughts:

Jessica said...

My niece cheats in Candyland. She won't show you the card she draws and mysteriously always draw one that allows you to move twice. Drives me crazy. We've had the talk..."It doesn't matter if you win or lose, just have fun playing the game" and so on. Finally, I just tell her I will not play anymore if she keeps cheating. Gotta love em!!

Pam said...

You'd be a mean mom if you DIDN'T teach him to lose gracefully! : )

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