(06-26-2011, 02:46 PM)NatesMama Wrote: How do deal with your SPD kid when they lose a game? I want to get my 7y/o in sports but he has such a hard time with losing or if he doesn't get or hit the ball. We just played checkers and I got a double jump and he got upset and quit and called me a cheater. Now he is in his sensory spot(a tent) and pouting.

Competitive sports are not for everyone.

My son simply can't deal with stress of win/lose sports, what should properly be called games. In most leagues, they are no longer about playing, they're about winning, and he's about playing. My son loves to swim, and raced for 2 seasons. He hated every aspect of meets, even when he won. Now he trains with a team, but we've made it very clear to the coach that he isn't interested in competition, and that works for us.

With things like board games, sometimes losing is skill they just have to learn through repetition. From the very beginning of paying board games with my son, I made sure I played fair, and that meant that sometimes he won, sometimes he lost, but he understood we do our best and follow the rules. His father (my ex) always let him win, and that produced more meltdowns and more distrust than you can imagine. Now my son usually beats me at chess because he's been motivated to work hard enough to get better at than I am - because sometimes he lost, and he didn't like that.

O.k. enough rant.