A certain child of mine is a sore loser. Always has been and I hope will not always will be. Couple that with always having to get their own way and you have a perfect storm. I can’t really fault the second attribute–having fortitude to make things happen can be admirable but being unwilling to compromise and accept defeat are very ugly things.
The other three of us often tiptoe around certain situations because we know Said Child will throw a fit when they don’t get their way but today, I’d had enough. Losing gracefully is one of life’s great lessons and there will be no more giving in.
Case in point: Said Child and Other Child share responsibilities for cleaning the bathroom and alternate between toilet/bathtub and sink/mirror. Obviously, the latter in the more desirable but we could not come to an agreement regarding whose turn it was so took it to rock-paper-scissors.
Quite predictably when Said Child lost fair and square, they threw a colossal fit. In the past, I’d calm Said Child down and make them do it anyway but today was a turning point as I announced:
“From now on if you lose and you can’t accept the fair results, you will do both jobs.”
Guess who got to clean the entire bathroom? To soften the blow, I cleaned their room but as you can imagine, Said Child awarded me “Mother of the Year.”
Here’s for hoping we have a sore-loser-no-more in the making after today’s life lesson.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 