WHAT NOW!

I have one wonderful son. He has a million great traits - integrity, awesome laugh and smile, very obedient, hard worker, driven (in sports), alert, sweet (when he's not teasing his sisters), responsible... I could go on forever. He has a few traits that have the potential to be great once they are cultivated and refined. Particularly, Jake is extremely competitive. He hates to lose, always has and I'm sure always will. We've had many, many talks about sportsmanship and how that means not only being a graceful winner, but loser too. He has his good moments and not so good moments.

One time, Jake, Brenton (his bf) and I were outside playing horse. Jake beat Brenton and starting talking trash about how bad he shot and how good he was, so Brenton left. I would have too. Jake looked at me and said, "Man he is a poor sport." That's when I told him that sportsmanship isn't only how you lose, but how you win. It's how you play the game. You respect the other players on both teams no matter what happens. If they are cocky and talk trash that doesn't excuse you to do it...

Then, just a few weeks later, he had his first pinewood derby. I thought he might cry if he lost, but with a few gentle reminders beforehand, he was such a great player - high fiving those who did better and worse and encouraging those whose cars were so slow. He ended up taking third in his wolf den. He was so happy, not only for himself, but for his friends and was so graceful about everything. I don't think he stopped showing that adorable dimple once all evening - all smiles.

Back to the competitive thing, He has the tendency to talk trash whenever he wins anything, and I mean anything. His signature trash talk is puffing out his chest, spreading his arms out wide and saying, "What now!"

He wins at h-o-r-s-e and we hear, "What now"

He reads a sentence faster than Abby who is two years younger and we hear, "What now"

He wins in a family game of Memory and it's "What now!"

He eats his veggies fastest and again it's "What now!"

When he wins his one-on-one (Jake-on-Jake) game of nerf basketball, you know the kind that hangs on the door, he says, "what now" even though he is the only player and he's saying it to himself.

He quizzes Hannah (4 yrs old) on math and shows her up with 16+16 and again it's "what now"

In fact, it's become a family joke. Anytime Jeremy or I beat Jake at anything we can't help but puff out our chests and exclaim with such confidence - what now. "Whose going to bed early tonight for teasing his sisters? -Oooh what now!"

I'm sure I'm shirking my responsibility as a mom with my son in teaching him how to be a better winner, but I think he's getting it. He showed it at his pinewood derby. Maybe he does listen to me sometimes.