I want to win – all the time

That’s what my (almost 4 years old) kid said when he lost a game to his mom. Crocodile tears all over his face. We were playing a board game for kids. Just throwing the dice and trying to get to the end of the trail. The thing is, he won a few times, but he also lost once and that seemed to be all that mattered. I didn’t know young kids are so competitive. But from a survival/evolution point, it makes a lot of sense.

Besides the drama, boarding games are good bonding games. Sometimes we play all three of us. It’s good for counting, understanding turns, and a lot of other cool things. But the thing with wanting to win is so deep that he is trying to cheat when he falls behind. When he is caught, here come the puppy eyes and sly smiles. While I don’t care that much if I win or lose at a game, he and my wife do – and they will argue a lot.

Sometimes he insists on finding answers and he won’t stop asking questions until he gets answers. And sometimes we are caught up with other stuff around the house so we might not always answer. In one of these situations, he was relentlessly asking for something, and I tried to intervene and reply to his curiosities.

Only to get a slap in the face. Figuratively. “Daddy, is your name Mommy?” – The first thing that crossed my mind was the memes about I want to talk with your manager. Guess sometimes mommy is all he needs. And by sometimes I mean most of the time.

One day I was walking with him home from kindergarten and we saw a kid (about his same age) crying and his mom telling him to Stop crying because he was a big boy. As we passed a few meters beyond, I asked him why did he think the kid was upset and crying: Because he doesn’t want to grow up (and be a big boy). That’s what I thought too…

What about you, do you find insights when talking with kids?

If you like this, you can check out my book for similar content.

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