Just wondered if anyone else with a pre-schooler can understand where I'm coming from when I say that this stage is a PITA!!! Ethan's been all about winning everything this last few months, from who eats their breakfast first, to who gets dressed first, etc... It's good in some ways because I can get him to do things by making it a race or competition, but in other ways it's a nightmare! This morning I was trying to get the two of them out of the door and into the car to take Ethan to nursery, so I had Rory hanging off my one arm fighting to get down and Ethan dawdling in front of me in the pouring rain. I can't put Rory down as it's all steps out of our house, so when Ethan started dawdling I went in front. Cue full on screams from him because I was getting to the car first, followed by full on shouting from me as I was seriously miffed off by this point. I feel ashamed though, because as he ran past me to get to the car I clipped him around the back of the head. It wasn't hard, but I hate sending him to nursery after that.
Live and learn though.
he can't stand not winning. I have had to ban board games and competitive wii games 
I'm afraid I have never found a solution 
luckily Imogen couldn't care less at the moment 
dh and I are also very competitive too. Like you say it does have it's advantages - like the "who can tidy up the most toys the quickest" game. But learning that you can't be the winner every time is an important life lesson, but a very hard one. Sometimes I try to even out the playing field for them eg. When my 3 older boys Are having a race to the next lamp post when we are walking to school I say go for the youngest first, then the middle one, then the oldest. They enjoy this as it gives a bit of an extra challenge and means that sometimes ds3 gets a chance to win. We also talk about how we don't have to win every time and sometimes it is good to let someone else win.
