being a good sport

the other day, aidan said, "mama, i want you to come downstairs and play mario kart with me!"

aidan is 4 and a half years old. when he has good behavior at school and uses his "listening ears," we allow him to play on the wii before dinner. he usually plays be himself, so this was an unusual request.

all his days of playing and all my days of not playing (where the heck did some of these races come from) quickly got me my first defeat. the kid beat me on the first race! 


and oh man-- the trash talk!


"mama, why are you so far behind?"
"i beat you, i beat you... nyah nyah nyah!"
"oh yeah! oh yeah! [with victory dance]


since i'm the adult, i have to set an example. so i say, "aidan, that's not nice. you have to be a good sport!" 


then i won a race and man, was he MAD!


"I don't want you to win , mama" and then he pinched me. 


to which i replied, "aidan, maybe we shouldn't let you play anymore because you aren't being a good sport."


"i am a good sport, mama! i want to play mario kart!"


his behavior got much better after that.


the next morning, after aidan went potty, he came up to me and said, "mama, i'm sorry i pinched you and was a bad sport when we played mario kart yesterday."  then he hugged me. (paul didn't even know that happened, so he wasn't coached or anything!)


it was a proud mama moment, for sure.