Competition and Playing by the Rules

My two boys are very different from one another. Jadon is a wild and crazy little guy who LOVES to win at everything that he does. Adam, on the other hand, is a play-it-by-the-rules kind of boy. Here was part of our conversation as we played a game (the Family Fun Game by Cranium) last night.

Adam: "Hey. It says here in the directions that the person with the next birthday goes first. So, since the girls are on a team together, they go first. Yana and Mommy have the next birthday (both of our birthdays are on Aug. 30th)."

A minute later...Jadon: "Dad says we should roll to see who goes first." (Dad didn't hear the birthday rule...ummm, Jadon did).

Dad (who is well aware of Jadon's competitive spirit): "Yeah. But I think that the rule is, if you roll the highest number, then the girls go first. And if you roll the lowest number, then the girls go first."

Jadon: "No. That's not how it goes, Dad."

Dad: "Oh yeah, I guess that the rule is, if Yana rolls the highest number, then the girls go first. But, if Yana rolls the lowest number, then the girls go first."

Adam: "Dad, I think that the rules say the person with the next birthday goes first. I think that it would be best to follow the rules."

How could anyone argue with that? I mean, anyone except Jadon, because he did try to argue with that. Unsuccessfully, though. But, he did try other means to give his team the advantage, such as when he was drawing a picture he said, "It starts with B." So, that got him 5 minutes out of the game. And when his team won, we had to inform him that he did not win, because he was cheating. But, he wasn't impressed with that. He simply had a smile on his face, because he believes in winning at all costs. Hmmm...we are working on this one!