The Wonder of Kids' Logic

I clearly failed

The woman you can hear on the video (me) sounds like a deranged mother, yelling at the top of her voice and drowning out all the other parents watching their loved ones compete.

I showed the video to my son later on, and he deleted it in disgust. "Why are you so loud, Mum?" he asked, "I can't hear you in the water anyway." Good point.

It's not the winning that counts

That made me laugh, but not as much as the rest of the conversation I had with him after the gala. It reflects perfectly my son's deeply flawed (but beautiful) way of thinking.

Here's how the conversation went:

"Well done, darling. You did so well."

"Thanks Mum. Did you see? I won all of my races."

"Umm, no you didn't but never mind. You still swam brilliantly."

"I did win them."

"No you didn't, darling, you came second."

"No, Mum, I came first. You must have been watching someone else."

"No, sweetheart, you were beaten by another boy every time."

"That's Tom. He doesn't count. So I won."

"Why doesn't he count?"

"Because he's faster than me."

"Oh."

Can this philosophy be applied elsewhere?

I wonder if he is going to apply that logic to everything. So with exams, he could say he came top even if he didn't, on the basis that everyone else was cleverer than him so shouldn't be counted.

Or, later in life, he could even apply this logic when applying for a job. It wouldn't matter that another applicant was better for the job and actually got it.

My son would still turn up for work, arguing that the other applicant should be "discounted" as they were clearly much more suited for the role, which in his eyes made the process unfair!

Should I let my son carry on thinking like this, in his blissful little world, or should I give him the cold, hard truth now?

Amanda Coxen, Working Mum and Tinies Director