BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Board Games Do you let your kids win at games?

Here's my article on whether or not you should allow children to win at games:

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art39789.asp

What do you think? What do you actually DO?

Do You Let Your Children Win at Games? single choice
	I beat 'em to a pulp on purpose, and then brag about it. Hey, I can't beat anyone my own age!
	I never let them win intentionally.
	I occasionally let them win intentionally.
	I always let them win intentionally.
	I don't have children.
Votes accepted starting: 01/23/06 03:18 AM You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.

I don't actually have children, but I do play lots of board games with my friends' children (I need play-testers so I can do reviews!). I try not to let them win, although I'll sometimes try to level the playing field at the beginning of the game by giving them a few bonus points or allowing them to move a few spaces forward. I always explain why I'm doing it, usually feeding them some line about how "I'm much older than you and I've played this game many times before, and if you'd like to move 4 spaces ahead of me so the game will be more fair, that'd be okay." They'll often opt out of it, and choose to play it "straight" on their own.

Like you I don't actually have kids, but I've played lots of board games with friend's kids.

Usually, I will play things 'straight', although I always intentionally go easy on them... most of us know tricks and strategies to win games, and I try to forget them and simply play it very simply and literally.

Also, if we play multiple games, if I have consistently won, I will usually intentionally let them win one or two so they don't get upset.

I'll let them win a couple, as well, if I've won a few too many rounds. Also, I try to choose games where I don't have a clear advantage... ripping an 8-year old up in Scrabble is not my style.... I won't even play Scrabble with most adults, because even if I don't play "Scrabble geek" words, I still have a pretty hefty advantage.

I forgot to mention, also, that I like to play games on teams, if it's possible. Me and one kid and their mom and the other kid, for example. That way you can both help them be better at the game, but you're *really* competing against the other adult, and just including the kids.

I agree with both of you. On the rare occasions I play boardgames with children I try to play on their level, play straight and fair, and play a few rounds so that the winning and losing hopefully evens out. More often, it's teams playing each other which is just loads of fun and not taken seriously and half the time no one knows who's winning anyway (like forgetting which team's mover is which, grandad's been moving the wrong piece or the wrong way for the past half-hour...)

This has been kind an issue at my house. I have two boys, ages 6 and 8. My oldest is so competitive and turns everything into a contest. At 4 he was cheating at candyland (not that we let him get away with it, but he tried. A lot.) I try not to let him win, but some days I really want to, just to avoid the whinning <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I have 2 grown sons - I use to crush them.
And, they never got mad.

It taught them Great Sportmanship.

As a matter of fact, they use to say,
"You not gonna let us beat you?"

My answer, "Nope."

Vicki L. Forte'
Bella On Line
Crime Editor <img src="/images/graemlins/rolling.gif" alt="" />

I have a four yr that I play memory games with. I never let him win on purpose. He is excited when I get one just like when he gets ones. It is not about winning at his age. To me, it is more getting him to follow rules and paying attention. But I don't take it easy on him in any of the games that we play. Sad to say, he just beats me.

LOL I always get beaten at Memory. I always pick the card NEXT TO the one that I meant to pick.

I would be so easy to beat at Scrabble. I'm too right-brained, I battle to logically form words out of a bunch of letters, especially when some of the letters are in front of you and others are already on the board. I've been doing the ones in the Sunday paper just for brainercise.

I never let my kids win intentionally beacuse in my humble opinion they really need to learn :
1. There will be a loser and if you are it then oh well.
2. If you want to win then you need to practice practice practice.

Sometimes I think too many people give kids awards for well nothing and I want my kids to learn that in order to win you have to work at it, not obsess on it, but work at it.

I had a foster kid for almost two years. We knew him before that because he was a customer of ours at the store my wife and I owned.

To the point, it was a game store. We never let Will win, but we did play with handicaps. One of the educational games that he actually didn't mind was the old National Geographic game where you lay down map hexes. He played on the low difficulty, my wife played on the medium difficulty, and I played on the highest difficulty. Scores came in fairly evenly.

In other games, it was a level playing field.

The Grand son I let win occasionally at Chess and he does get such a thrill out of it. If I was a nicer person I would let him win more often.

Have a nice day.

I do not have kids and I also do not play with kids since I do not personally know any. If I did I will not let them win. I don't see how it can be good for children to let them win when they do not deserve to win.

I never played them in a competitive mode, I instead played with them in a teaching mode so that I was always teaching them how to make their next step and use strategy and if they didn't make the right move I would win the move and then teach them how I won that move. So I was always trying to teach them how to win! :)