Monday, July 2, 2012

Good sportsmanship in action

Yesterday an opportunity to give practical lessons in good sportsmanship to a little girl. She is 4 and very proud of continually winning races, putting on her seatbelt first, eating dinner first or whatever. She says "I just beat you did I?" This is not terrible as a winning statement, however it is still not ideal. It would also not have been a problem if she could take defeat graciously.
Yesterday we went for a bike ride, I was on foot. We had a race to a pole and the first race she won and gloated. The second race I pipped her at the post and she cried that it wasn't a race and she didn't want to race and I always win. I explained that she needed to learn to be a good loser before she could be a good winner and the way to be a good loser was to firstly finish the race, and secondly say "congratulations" and shake hands. Then the good winner says "That was a good race" or "Well done" and shakes hands.
She said several times for the remainder of the bike ride "I'm a bad loser." I said she was but all she had to do to be a good loser was to shake hands and say "Congratulations" She refused and was still in tears when we got home.
After school pick up, I put my seat belt on before she did and then demonstrated just how horrible a bad winner can be. She began to cry again and I asked her if I was being a good winner and if she enjoyed it. She shook her head and cried properly so I went round and gave her a cuddle. Then we got back in the car and I put my belt on first again and said "Good race, now you say congratulations and we shake hands." She did and had a little laugh.
We have thus begun the journey to learning good sportsmanship.

One other thing, The 7 yr old challenged me to a karate fight. He though he could win based on the fact he plays with lego and watches TV. I figured maybe not based on the fact that I have done 3 yrs of Karate. After we had a little spar and I got him on the ground a couple of times, I went to put a handful of rubbish in the bin. At the right moment I turned and blocked the charge he made at my back and told him that attacking when your opponents back is turned is bad sportsmanship. A bit later he apologized for it, I wasn't upset and I did not ask him to, that makes me very happy and we made up.

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