Cheaters never win! well, they're not supposed to!

Several weeks ago Caeden participated in his second Math Pentathlon. I joked that it was the minor leagues for future Chess Club members, but we had a great time cheering Caeden and his teammates on in each of their contests. I was really disappointed though and left with mixed feelings on the event after talking with some of the parents who were helping out.

Parents volunteered to monitor matches and help resolve any challenges the kids came upon during their match. The instructions to the parents were that they could not intervene unless one of the players used a challenge card to dispute something. What was disappointing, however, was that in talking with several parents they acknowledged watching kids purposely cheat to win (obvious stuff like moving a piece when the other player looked away), but because the other player didn’t see the wrong doing they didn’t know to challenge. Since the monitor couldn’t intervene unless a player challenged, the cheating player often got away with it. So we had instances of monitors knowing that wrong doing was happening, but helpless to do anything due to the rules.

I’m not sure what that teaches kids. Some of them were clearly learning that cheating is ok and will have benefits, so long as they don’t get caught. I’m not comfortable with that and refuse to allow my kids to think that is acceptable. It’s just disappointing to me that there are first graders learning such false truths at a young and impressionable age.


Despite my personal disappointment though, I was proud of Caeden’s effort and sportsmanship in the competition. It was also great to see him trying something different than sports.

End of the Basketball Season

Last night we had the end of the season banquet for  Caleb's Pups Basketball season.  This was Caleb's first year playing competitive basketball, he has only played rec level until this year.  Last year, at the end of his third grade season, he set the goal that he wanted to make a Pups team and he worked hard over the entire year to improve his skills and put himself in a position where he could compete, intentionally working toward his goal.  I was so proud of him when he accomplished the goal of just making the program.


I think the season was a good challenge for him, but I am so proud of how he has continued to focus on trying to improve and compete, doing both with class and dignity.  When his coach introduced him last night to congratulate and recognize him for the season, he talked about his improvements and development as a player, but what really meant the most to me was how he talked about Caleb's character and attitude at practice and during the game, always smiling and always encouraging.


His jump shot, court awareness, ball handling, and aggressiveness will all continue to develop and serve him well on the court but his attitude and character will cross over into every aspect of his life.  As his parents, we couldn't be prouder of Caleb for his work this year and I look forward to next year as well.

Caleb is #5 in the video