Ever let your kids win?

loll…when the kids were small..back then..our house was the neighborhood playground. All the kids would congregate behind our house and we would either be playing, baseball, football, or basketball, depending on the season of the year. occasionally, i would play them all in basketball…would never let them win, but…that got bigger! loll..then, they would never let me win!!!

With my cousins, it depends on the age. When they get old enough to realise you let them win, and throw tantrums when you don’t, then it’s time to teach them to play fairly. I absolutely do not tolerate cheating and will stop playing if one of my cousins try to.

well yes when we first played with my daughter and she was 3, and it was a game where you had to roll a die, then take the colour it showed and put it in a picture (something like a bingo/jigsaw). Normally I don’t let kids win (I often play with 10-year-olds etc), but in that case I wanted her to like the game so that she’d play it more often and learn shapes and colours. It was similar when I first taught her chess and backgammon.

My dad always let me win in backgammon, even when I was 14 and good enough to beat him. It really pissed me off, and I insisted he played for real, because I never knew if I was good enough or he was just letting me win. One day he promised to play properly and after that it was like 50–50.

When they were very young, yes. This reminds me of a time that my husband and I took my daughter to her first carnival when she was three. A little back story is needed first.

I grew up in Las Vegas, and my parents would take me and my best friend to Circus Circus just about every other weekend. My parents would gamble while my friend and I would play the carnival games. My favorite game was the water gun balloon race. When my husband and I took our daughter to the carnival, I was excited to see the water gun game and thought that she would love it. She really wanted to win an animal and I thought this would be the easiest way for her to win one. My husband, Emily and I were the only people sitting down for the race. I was so excited to play, since I hadn’t played in over 20 years, that I let the excitement get me and I beat my daughter at the race. I should have known better to let her win. What was I thinking!?! We played a second time. She won that one. ;)

My husband and I have very differing ideas on this. He never lets them win, says it teaches them how to be a good loser, etc. I almost always let them win, that way they will feel good about themselves and not get frustrated and want to quit playing.

sometimes,... there has to be balance…

I used to let my son beat me at chess, but now that he is 13 he creams me with stunning regularity. It’s not really that much fun.

I pound the little mites to a pulp every opportunity I get. Lets face it it wont last forever. Soon they will grow up and defeat me. Then they will laugh heartily as they revel in the sweet taste of victory, and they will know they have earned it.

Whereas I will be sat crying in the corner :)

We loved to play checkers, when my children were younger. sure, i let them win all the time. not letting your child win some of the time, does not help establish a feeling of self-gratification for them. i think it teaches them that in life there are winners and there are losers. letting them win, lets them make and feel the emotional effects of both sides.

Yes, before they could handle losing a game.

When playing games with little kids, I let them win most of the time. Not all of the time, because they do need practice at being a good sport. I remember the first time I played Chutes and Ladders with one of my boys, when he was about three. I let him win a couple of games, and then I won. He got soooooo mad! He threw his game piece across the room, shouted, “I hate this game and I’m never playing again!” Then he stomped off to his room. Once I stopped laughing, I made him come back and help me clean up the game. I said, “Everyone loses sometimes. If you’re nice about it, people will still want to play with you and you can have another chance at winning.” I think he had to lose a couple more times before he could handle it without a fit.

Losing all of the time is not fun, and let’s face it: Most little kids are going to always lose when playing against an adult. My husband and I both let the kids win just so they continue to have fun and learn to improve. When they do lose, we explain to them how they could have won, and give them tips on doing better the next time. Our daughter is ten, and we don’t let her win anymore. Most games she has a very fair chance of winning on her own.

No. When they would finally beat me, they knew I didn’t let them win, and they would be jazzed about it for days.

@MissAusten Losing all of the time is not fun. How true! Especially for a small child. I have five siblings that are 6–14 years older than me. They were often my babysitters, and we would play games quite a bit. I can’t remember a time that I won a game with any of them. Not long ago I was going through a box of old toys at my mother’s house that belonged to me. I came across an old wooden puzzle of mine, and on the back I had written “Janet always looses”. I didn’t know how to spell lose ;) It made me feel sad reading that, just for a moment.

My nephew was a young chess champ and my father once knocked over the board when his grandson was beating him. We all thought it waas hysterical.

Yes, sometimes because they are better than I am and sometimes to boost their self-confidence.

Games are played for fun and I don’t necessarily need to beat my 7 year old boys.
(Maybe once they’ve become arrogant twenty year old brats that claim to always be better than me, my attitude may change.)

That’s so weird, I was going to ask this today because I was playing Air Hockey with my friends daughter last night, and I was trying to let her win but she kept scoring on herself. :)

YES< probably until about age 7, just to help them learn the game, or to build their self confidence, and occasionally after that as well, to help them feel good. But never, ever let them cheat, or let them know I let them win. I hate cheaters. It’s like what’s the point, what are you teaching your kids. Also try to teach them to be good losers.

As a rule in my family, we play games of chance with younger kids to teach them that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose and games are about having fun. We play games of skill with you when you’re older and have learned those basic principles first.

If I didn’t want to win, I’d play against adults.

We try to let the children play with each other, with an adult one their ‘team’. The adults don’t play against children.

I let my brothers when all the time because they are little kids. But sometimes you just have to let them learn to lose. Because life no don’t all ways win.

My dad never let me win in chess. He also made it clear that a lot of other parents do, so if other kids brag about winning, thats probably why. For whatever reason, I was never able to get good at the game though… probably because my dad always made the best moves that were way above my head. I think its good to play so they need to try their very best to win half the time.

Interestingly, the game go specifically deals with this. Advanced players will play “teaching” games where they will avoid the best moves, but make moves that they feel will teach their opponents. I’ve only played a bit, but the people I played with were always doing this and I remember after my first learning game, I was much better.