My 4-year-old Diplomat

My Son Little Prince doesn't have an ounce of competitiveness in his body. (Excluding fights over toys, cookies, and breathing space with his brother, of course.)

But the kid just does not get the concept of winning and losing. You wouldn't believe how annoying that is. It is a time-tested parenting method to use races and second-place humiliation as motivational factors. Everything from who can eat their dinner the fastest to who can make it to the car first is fair game. None of that works on LP. He's all, "oh, you go ahead. I'm fine ambling along watching the grass grow."

I recall potty training the kid. I bribed him with chocolate chips, candy, marshmallows, The Toy He Always Wanted, everything. I even frequently demonstrated how it was done. All I got for my efforts was, "Wow, Mom! Good job! You get a chocolate chip now!"

Playing any kind of game is a lost cause. "Go Fish" cracks me up. "Here, Mom. I have lots of sharks. Take all my sharks, Mom!"

Until very recently, Candyland was merely a cool board to drive cars around. But today I was determined to make him play by the rules. To my delight, he got it. HE FINALLY GOT IT, PEOPLE! He was advancing rapidly around the board (he drew the Lollipop Princess card, lucky dog), and clapping his hands, squirming with anticipation for the sure win (I drew the Gingerbread Kids 2/3 of the way through the game. Such is my life.) Eyes glowing, grin exploding, sitting Indian-style and bouncing his knees ... the kid won. I cheered for him, congratulating and marveling that he finally understood. He was just exploding with happiness.

"Let's play again, Mom! Now it's your turn to win!"

Oh, well.