"Why didn't you beat the Brazilians?"

That is what my son, Mitchell, asked me on the phone this week. I told him the score, gave him a play-by-play of some of the rallies and even resorted to the typical "we tried our best" excuse, but I could just sense the disappointment in his voice. I tried to explain to him that playing sports isn't always about winning (parents have to fib now and again), but still failed to snap him out of his displeasure with the loss.

After the phone conversation, I gave it some more thought, because it concerned me that an 8-year old was that worried about winning. Of course,the emphasis at our level is quite a bit about winning, but I figured that an 8-year old shouldn't be making such a big deal about it. Just before I was about to blame his attitude on the Canadian hockey mentality (Mitchell plays rep hockey for the Aurora Tigers), it finally occurred to me where it comes from - not from hockey, but from me!!

Often, during the past off-season, my son would express disappointment when I left the house to go to the gym or to Beach Blast for training. "Why do you always have to train, Daddy?" My response would often be, "well, Daddy has to beat the Brazilians this summer, so I need to practice and be fit!"

So of course Mitchell is disappointed every time I lose to Brazil, because for him, winning against Brazil was supposed to be the pay-off for "allowing" me to leave to go train so often during the winter. So, in a way, every time I lose to Brazil, it's as if I'm not keeping my word.

It's amazing the things kids pick up on, and it makes you realize, that as a parent, you have to be extra careful with what you say, because your kids are listening to every word - except, of course,  when you ask them to clean up their room!