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I have a small confession. At times I can find myself being quite the competitive type in particular things. Whenever I am playing a sport, I want to be the best, I want to win. I will become very serious and work hard to try and win at it. The same holds true when playing video games. I strongly dislike losing. Growing up with an older brother we were always competing on some of the craziest things. Like who could hold their breath under water longer, or who could find the most punch buggies when driving in the car. Luckily though, I am not a sore loser.
This competitiveness is something I have had to learn to control over the past few years since becoming a husband & Dad. Last night was a prime example of this as my wife, daughter & I headed out for a fun night of mini golf. In the past, I would have grabbed the score card, and kept tabs of every single shot my wife had and focus on every shot I took to make sure I won. But last night was different. When we arrived at the course I told my wife that I was not even picking up a score card.
Becoming a Dad has taught me that life isn’t always about competition. In the past I would have focused so much on the score that I would have missed out on having a fun relaxing time with my family. This time however I did not want to miss a second of time with the family. From the first hole all the way till the last one we enjoyed ourselves immensely.
Our daughter who is only 2.5 years old hasn’t quite grasped all the concepts of golf yet, but she surely enjoyed every second on the course. She was a professional at picking up our balls out of the hole and also had a good time carrying her club and playing golf like her daddy.
The moral of the story: as a Dad/Husband, we need to sometimes let our competitive spirits go to the side so that we do not miss out on memories that can last a lifetime. As for my family, we enjoyed ourselves so much that after we finished, we made a special trip for ice cream!
So true! I leaned the hard way after reducing a *very* competitive 1yo to tears over a game of memory. He on the other hand had to learn that you dont get to win *everything* in life.
Hehe, that’s a whole other conversation that I will definitely cover in the near future!