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Stupid worry- need another perspective

post #1 of 9
Thread Starter 

My son is 5 and played 3 foose-ball games with DH, me and DD tonight. He was playing on various team combos and managed to be on the losing one each time. He is very competitive and was upset about losing them all. He wanted to play one more with his older sister and this time "I want to win!!". I knew my DD would let him win and she did. So sweet- she made sure he didn't know but whispered it to me. I told her she didn't have to do that if she didn't want to but she really did want to. 

 

The problem is that I am a huge people pleaser and I don't want to raise her to feel the need to please. I feel like I should have said "DD never lose on purpose for anyone else, never let your light shine dimmer to make others more comfortable."

 

Am I making a big deal out of this? What would you have said?

post #2 of 9

Can you make some nights just 'for fun' and not keep score.  Say we are going to play for 5 mins then switch teams etc?  Practice modeling having fun vs winning.

My kid is just the opposite and could care less who wins/looses he just wants to play!

post #3 of 9
Thread Starter 

Thanks for your reply!! Yes- that might be a great idea. We were playing it up come to think of it. My DS is naturally competitive so he was doing victory dances after every goal and so we all started acting silly like that. It probably didn't help :)

I'll try the timer idea next time!

post #4 of 9
Oh, I have such mixed feelings about this.

When I met DH, I had be raised in a way where I was taught to alway lose games, or always play dumb so that a man felt smart. I remember him putting on an album that I knew every word to by heart (Green, by REM) and I acted like he was introducing it to me the first time because I knew he was excited about it and I didnt want to let him down or make him feel stupid.


Just try to make sure that your DD knows that she is doing it because she wants to give her brother the self confidence that he CAN win, not just to please him.
post #5 of 9
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dandelionkid View Post

The problem is that I am a huge people pleaser and I don't want to raise her to feel the need to please. I feel like I should have said "DD never lose on purpose for anyone else, never let your light shine dimmer to make others more comfortable."

 

Am I making a big deal out of this? What would you have said?


I think by recognizing & responding to a loved one's 'need', she was letting her light shine as bright as ever. smile.gif
post #6 of 9

I really wouldn't worry about her becoming a people pleaser over that smile.gif  My older brother and I used to let our little brother win all the time, b/c his tantrums were heinous if he lost.  Now, he's the least competitive of the bunch, and my older brother and I are certainly not people pleasers!

post #7 of 9

i think just letting her know that you didn't expect her to do that is enough.

 

people's personalities are pretty set, i think, so while she may always be a people-pleaser, it can be in a very positive healthy way (of being empathetic to others) rather than in a negative way (of letting people trample over her).

 

 

post #8 of 9
I assume she's older? I think it's common for older siblings to let younger ones win. Even younger siblings might let an older one win if they thought it would make them happy. I wouldn't worry about this, personally. It sounds like they're part of the same loving home and are looking out for each other.
post #9 of 9

I don't think it's a bad thing to allow her to give her brother a little boost when he needed it. As long as she doesn't do it *every* time, I'd leave it be.

 

Some people have a bigger drive when it comes to competition than others. My son? Could care less. Used to drive his team members nuts when he'd approach the other team and tell them how well they played. My daughter? HATES to lose, but accepts it more easily in some situations than others. She's learned that, sometimes, the match is so close that it could go either way. Sometimes, it's so one-sided that the conclusion is foregone. And sometimes... everyone isn't putting in their best effort and a few can't carry the many.

 

My daughter plays field hockey on several teams. Her HS team is okay. Not great. Biggest issue (and most frustrating for her) is how many girls are there for the social aspects, rather than the sport/competitive ones. She hates when they lose, because it's often due to a lack of effort. And she is an absolute bear when she comes home from a loss with them. The club team she plays with is really quite good. There's one other club team that's better. She took the loss to them relatively easily, because she knew her team played hard and held their own - but lost to a better team. She wasn't happy at first, but as we replayed the game together, she saw that her team - and she - really played well. So a 2-0 loss, when the other teams were going down 10-0, 14-0, etc? Was really pretty darned good.

 

It will get easier as he gets older and learns/is helped to learn that there will often be someone a bit better. And that it helps you become better by giving you a higher level of competition. And in the meantime? If older sis wants to boost his spirit by occasionally allowing him to win? Let her.

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