I was able to pick Cal up from school today to take him to a playdate at a nearby bowling alley with one of his new school buddies. This was Cal's first time bowling, and though the Wii has given him some good working knowledge of score keeping and the rules of play, it also gave him an inaccurate sense of how good he actually is at the game.
Faced with this crushing realization, he may have not been the best sport about it.
I gave Cal the old "It's not if you win or lose, it's how you play the game" talk, but he wasn't really having it. I was so bad at sports at a kid that for me, losing was a foregone conclusion. But Cal is different, Cal wants to WIN, in that "second place is just first loser" kind of way. Any advice on how to teach your kid better sportsmanship? Or should he just start rehearsing his "I'm not here to make friends" reality show villain speech?
(One more thing: note the bumpers along the gutters that the bowling alley puts up whenever they have younger kids playing. Heed my word and NEVER LET THEM PLAY WITHOUT THOSE BUMPERS. The score would have otherwise been zero to zero the whole hour we were there, yet another crushing blow to an already bruised ego.)