I've been having to say this to my 9 year old son for the past couple of days.
It's his school sports day today and he's got himself in a right flap over a running race he's been entered into. He just keeps muttering that there's no point him running 'cos he always last everytime they practise.
Poor Love.......so now I'm trotting out the well worn phrase about how it doesn't matter love, as long as you try your best.
His reaction to that pearl of parenting wisdom?
He says to me how come when he doesn't try hard at anything he does it better :confused: and when he does try hard, he's crap. So he reckons he's not gonna try and then he'll win.
His words not mine, kids logic huh :loopy: :D
I don't care, I'm going to be there, camera in hand like any doting parent to record forever the memory of his "happy" face whether he wins or loses :lol:

Just don't show the evidence to his first teenage girlfriend when she comes round in a few years... :P

I feel for him, I really do.

I hated sports day with a passion - I finished last in EVERYTHING they made me do - they knew I didn't want to participate, but made me do it nonetheless. I think it's nothing short of despicable that they can force you into humiliating yourself in front of your whole school and their parents.

If he really genuinely doesn't want to do it, I recommend you tell the school they're NOT making him.

Put a bandage round one of his knees and people will assume that he's injured, but bravely competing. If that doesn't win him any sympathy then nothing will.

I know someone who was the only competitor in the Butterfly swimming race, they still made him swim it.
Apparently the whole school cheered like mad but at least he knew they were cheering for him.
He tells me he won it too!
Anyway GOOD LUCK junior Bee

Tell him that if he doesn't win he is an idiot and a failure and if that doesnt speed him up, then he is an idiot and a failure.;)

Well, we've come home early from sports day, 3 events short of the end of the competition, my son suffered a gusher, he's prone to nose-bleeds, so he had to "retire" bless him.
He did try and he did indeed come in last on the skipping race, the relay race, football through the legs race and the bean bag race. But he tried, with me giving him the thumbs up from the sidelines and cheering him on.
He'll always be a winner in my eyes though :thumbsup:
Oh and miniminch I wouldn't be so cruel as to say anything so hurtful and demeaning to him even in jest.

Well done to him for trying, not easy in this heat so good effort.

And well done you for showing support no matter what.
When you see some of those Ferral kids roaming the streets you have to wonder how much time their parents have given them.

Originally posted by Apollo_C
Just don't show the evidence to his first teenage girlfriend when she comes round in a few years... :P

Already done this with my eldest son :thumbsup: I just love getting the video's out of him pre-voice breaking and letting his friends see them :thumbsup: Teach him to cheek his Ma :lol:

oh LellyBee - that so took me back. I remember my little girl was always convinced she was going to win something every sports day every year during primary ..

One year she nearly won the egg and spoon, but she was so busy mugging at me with the camera - she dropped the egg! :o

Triumph of hope over experience - bright eyes and a big grin "I really think I have a good chance this year, Mummy. I did well in the practices"

My heart would sink ... but she never let it get her down. Kids, don't you just love their spirit - even while your heart is breaking for them ...

Originally posted by rubydazzler
One year she nearly won the egg and spoon, but she was so busy mugging at me with the camera - she dropped the egg! :o



Bless her, so it's your fault she didn't win that year then ;)
Kids, don't you just love 'em :thumbsup:

I apologise if this is stupid as I am not a parent.

Would it be of any use to tell your son that it's great to let people who are better win the race because, one day they might represent the school, and his encouragement might help the school? And if he tells the winner that he is a great runner, then he will earn kudos and later when your Lad is good at something else that the good runner guy might praise him and increase his popularity and status in a different way.
In summary it's cool to recognise when something is excellent.

One of my favourite Mottos is winners fail too.

LOL, no it's not stupid but a 9 year old boy wouldn't appreciate that sort of logic.
I encourage him to try his best and not feel like a failure whenever I can, but he was realistic about his racing attributes.
I just didn't want him to feel bad about himself because he'd not done very well at those particular things, so I did spend some time pointing out things that he was good at so that he didn't feel too down, football, history, geography and most importantly Xbox or PS2 games :lol:
Kids are very competitive and I'm sure we all remember when "picking" sides for any sort of game, it's not very nice if you're the last one to get picked.
But that's life, there's only ever one winner or loser, it's how we deal with it that counts.

I loathed school sports - the only thing I was halfway good at was cross country running.

Because it was a team event it was posisble for my performance to matter - so not bringing up the rear of 100 other boys was important. Fortunately there were kids in other 'houses' that were fatter and slower than me, so I managed to avoid total humiliation.

It wasn't fun.

I'm glad that he's survived the experience - he'll look back upon this and remember how you helped him along! :thumbsup:

Joe

Well, they had all the kids separated into four teams named after different colours and he was part of the red team and after counting all the scores at the end of the day, the red team won, so he'll be happy enough with a team certificate :thumbsup:

Originally posted by LellyBee
at the end of the day, the red team won, so he'll be happy enough with a team certificate :thumbsup:

RESULT!!!!!

:thumbsup: :clap:

Thanks Ruby,
It's true that a parent suffers the agonies more than their kids do :lol: