Never given, only earned.

I do not let the kids win. If they win, great! I do not take a fall on purpose. Ever.

This is a lesson I like to think has served them well when they go head-to-head, brother-to-brother. The Boys and Girls Club had a Spelling Bee with several others in the area. The boys had special dispensation (by me) to go to the day camp program last Friday, usually our day to hang. It was the day to declare the finalists, one boy, one girl, from each grade level to go to the regional competition. Sam came out on top for his grade.

Aidan was faced with "trapeze". Aidan gave me the play-by-play, what he was thinking, his decision-making process, the ultimate action, which can be summed up with "S". Aidan went down on trapeze; Noah picked up with T-R-A-P-E-Z-E.


Finalists named.

I have three boys, only two were left standing.

For very competitive boys, Aidan handled it surprisingly well and Noah made exactly no fuss about it. Sam, well, it was no issue. He won. Period. Meh.

Fast forward to today. The regional competition.

Zero pressure. No stress. Virtually no conversation about it. A "normal" morning,  when no one want to get up, everyone is missing something, nobody wants to walk the dog, everybody needs a reminder to brush teeth. The meeting from 1:00 - 3:00 means that this mommy is no way making the 2:00 - 4:00 contest.

I scream out of the office at 3:30 only to pull up to our club kids coming out of the building. Noah sees me  and hops up and down, waving. Sam just stops spreads his arms and then wave in the air ... his medal! Turns out, I've missed nothing. Of the 3rd - 5th grade competing, wily, little Noah came in 4th against his big brother and is immensely proud. Sam won! They both came home with .mp3 players, plus Sam was given a Target gift card. I think he loves his medal and the certificate with his name on it best.

Today's parenting challenge is how to cheer the pants of Sam, congratulate Noah on doing awesome on stage with old kids and coming in damn close to the top, and then not having Aidan be crushed at the end of it all.

Enter the #1 speller.

We picked up Aidan, shared the exciting news. Aidan is both interested and seethingly jealous. He vows to avenge his spelling prowess next year and turns to a book. A few minutes pass. Sam says, "here Aidan, I already have an mp3 player. You can have mine"