When YOUR kid is the best socialized in the bunch!

Last weekend my son and I went bowling with the cub scouts.

It was perfect, because there was only one other mother, and two other scouts, and so it was a nice group to be going bowling with. We had a great time. Well, most of us had a great time.

As is often the case with boys, as the smallest and at first glance the least athletic boy literally pulverized the rest of us with his bowling skills, my son and his friend got angrier and angrier. They were upset because they were not doing very well. But what a fantastic teaching opportunity! The little guy, John, just happened to be great at bowling. He was patient, not in a hurry, and his slow roll of the ball was the perfect thing for getting the highest score. My son just couldn't get his execution correct, and so he had gutter ball after gutter ball. His friend, Cameron, who is the quintiscential super competitive boy, THREW that ball down the lane, and it too went into the gutter, at which point he completely lost it. This is a very nice kid -- he's just super competitive, and young. He threw a huge temper tantrum -- screaming, crying, on and on. He was never so awful that he didn't, AT THE SAME TIME, root for the other two boys (isn't that great?), but boy, was he mad at himelf. Will was mad at himself too, and I did quietly try to get him to control his emotions, but I didn't really need to. He did a great job. No tears, no hitting himself, no getting super upset. He was mad, for sure. But he didn't lose control. I was so impressed. Last year, he would have lost control but good. See what maturity can do for a kid?

This was a huge step for mankind, or boykind. I couldn't gush enough about what a great kid he was for handling a difficult situation so well. After bowling, we had to go watch his sister at her volleyball tournament, but then we went BACK to the bowling alley and practiced some more, without the pressure of friends watching. He did much better, and he was thrilled to be able to have the chance to try to improve his score.

Kris