I've been working on helping Cate not be a poor sport.
If she wins a game (which she does quite often, but probably because most of the games we play with her have to do with luck, not skill), she's super excited.
If she loses, well, she most often stomps off to her room yelling something like, fine! then you're not invited to my tea party ever again! And then she slams her door which isn't very nice but she's right where I want her so I guess it all works out. (Sheesh. Is she almost 4 or almost 14? Heaven help me.)
So we play games and I remind her of the good things to say. Even if she loses. Good game! Thanks for playing with me. Awesome. Good try! Stuff like that.
We played Candy Land on Saturday. She set up the board. Before we started I talked to her about what it means to be a poor sport (the stomping away mad and slamming the door stuff) and what she can say if she loses. And what she should say if she wins.
And then I asked her, "So what happens if you don't win?" (hoping she'd remember that we say Good game or Awesome or Good try)
She thought for about 2 seconds and said, "You lose."
Baby steps, people. Baby steps.
3 comments:
That can be a hard lesson to learn. I had to work on it with my husband the first year of our marriage. He'd throw cards across the room when he lost. Sad, but true.
He's better now. Cate will get it, too. :)
And that is why I stopped playing games with my kids. I can't stand the bad attitudes. And they don't leave me alone when I stomp off to my room because I need to scream off some frustration. Let them learn good sportmanship in school.
Savannah still hasn't figured out how to be a good loser, she may never learn it.
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