At what age do you stop letting them win and just play them straight up? Oldest is 20, middle is 16, youngest is 10. In this case, the question only applies to the 10 year old. I have no mercy on the two oldest.
Uh, like since forever. The wife used to choose those gay cooperational games (eg. The Great Cheese Chase) where no one really loses. Even those could be turned into a contest of who gets the most moves and such. Other than that, no one gets an easy win. Instead, I will explain the strategy or ask them why I chose a certain action and challenge them to counter and explain their reasoning as opposed to just letting 'em win. Life sucks, it helps if they learn that early.
The youngest is the only one who asked for any advice during the season. He and I meet again in the championship game this weekend. The other two finished with losing records.
That would have been considerably more persuasive if it were coherent. Plus, you're wrong. Context matters. I agree with Papa. Your son looks to you for advice. How to learn. That is winning.
Fantasy football is different given how much knowledge you need to do it right. There you should always help. Board games - crush them from the beginning
I would let the kids win in ping pong. They could barely see over the top of the table so I'd play left handed with roller skates on. When they started winning, off came the skates. When they started winning again I went back to right handed. After that I was out of luck and told them they had to start playing left handed.
My son could kick my ass in hockey when he was 14, and I wasn't too shabby. He was pretty damn good at 10. A parents goal in life is to make sure their kid is better than them at everything.
once they truly understand the rules... the gloves come off. i play "Go Fish" with my 5 year old, and he clearly doesnt understand that he has to be holding an ace to ask for an ace... but once we get the rules down, its game on.
I taught my 6 y.o. 5 card draw and after about 10 hands she comes up with this...no shit. I figured I don't need to let her have any advantages anymore.
Never LET them win. But if he’s already in the championship round, having beaten the two older siblings, maybe he should be the one giving pointers. He clearly doesn’t need the help.
In your context you're not really "letting him win" you're teaching him how to play. Totally different IMO and give him all the knowledge he needs/wants/you feel like sharing, but don't throw picks for him. ^This!! I've never let them "win". You want to win, get better. Call me an asshole but I HATE the participation award shit. That being said we do play age appropriate stuff sometimes (they're 5/7), and games where they have a legitimate shot at winning. My daughter has won at sorry a few times and my son is the reining household champ at battleship. He's never lost against anybody in the house, multiple times. And it's a record that will stand for eternity because we're all sick of playing against him . You don't know shame until you're beat down by a gloating 7 year old . IMO you don't get better at something by winning, you get better by losing. Nobody analyzes a win, but a loss sticks in your craw and motivates you like a win never can. There will come a day when they legitimately hand me a beat down at something I'm really good at, and I'll be the proudest dad around. But internally pissed and trying to figure out why I lost.
