I have a very, very competitive boy in my room. He has other issues (he’s the puppet eater), but he has a habit of cheating to win. He is good at games – trouble and Candyland are his favorites, but he either wins all the time or calls people names when they win. We have been working very hard on good sportsmanship. I noticed one of his cheating techniques is that he takes his turn far more often than anyone else. If three friends are playing and the order should be Child A, child B, child C, A, B, C, etc. it goes A, B, A, C, A, B, A… with A being this child. If I sit near by and watch, it happens less often, and with sneakier looks. Another is that he digs through the deck of cards, looking for the ones that will benefit his position.
Today I lost it though, when I caught him ‘shuffling’ the Candyland cards and stashing all the pink ones under his leg. These are the cards that let you jump ahead in the game. When he saw I was looking at him he tried sneaking them back, but it was too late. Mrs. Sommerer put all the pink cards in a cabinet and spent all of center time refereeing the game, teaching them how to say, “Your turn” to the person who was supposed to go next.
He won one game and lost four.
Lloyd's Cousin Sam says
And capitalism died…
Brad says
Heh. I was kind of thinking the same thing. In some situations, this kind of behavior is awarded with a position as CEO. I wonder what the world would be like if these behaviors were encouraged in all children. I don’t think I’d like it.
Kristi says
He still kept playing -- even without the pink cards? He must surely be a competitor. I wonder how his parents deal with it. I think I might know -- they ignore it. Way to be the parent AND the teacher, Lauren!