I was playing the card game “Go Fish” with my four and a half-year-old grandson the other day when he said, “It’s OK not to win, isn’t it?”
That was a bit of a surprise, as in the last six months or so he’s found a way to turn every possible kind of play into a game that has a score and a winner. Plus, he’s been quite skilled at setting the rules, and resetting them, to favor himself.
So clearly I was surprised when he came up with the question about not having to win.
Was some part of his parental unit trying to teach him about winning and losing? Has a teacher or a coach said something to him? Just what was going on here.?
And what should I tell him?