Monday, October 21, 2013

My Daughter Cheats At Tag

I watched Natalie run around the park with some other kids. She's not shy. If she spots a child she'll walk over and go, "Hi. Want to play?" She's rarely alone for long when I take her out.


She was playing tag the last time I took her out. The little kid who was It almost made it to her but before Natalie could be touched she shouted, "Base! I'm on base now!"

Um.

The problem with that was she just randomly announced it.

Oh well, just kids being silly. Maybe they had established that area as base and I didn't hear. I went back to my book and heard Natalie call again, "I'm on base!" I looked up and saw Natalie in ANOTHER area of the park.

"That's cheating!" I shouted.

Some other parents who were sitting stared over at me.

Ahem. I calmly shut my book and stood up. I walked over to Natalie, who was gaping at me.

"That," I told her. "Is called cheating. You can't just make up rules." I had to set her straight. If she kept it up, no one would ever want to play with her. They'd dub her Base Girl and snicker, "EVERY place she stands is base. Ha ha ha."

Natalie lifted her chin up. "It's not cheating. All these places are base." She said this to me slowly as if I were an inebriated idiot.

"So if you're It, you won't mind if your friends announce that they are on base the second you try to touch them?" I inquired.

Natalie blinked. This seemed to somewhat compute.

"Now run. There is no base," I told Natalie and winked at the little girl who was It. I think I scared her. She rushed away to the slide.

Natalie huffed. "Fine."

I thought she was going to play correctly. But then she shouted, "I'm not playing tag. I'm swinging." So the kids followed her over to the swings.

Oh well. I tried. Hopefully the next time she plays tag she doesn't think that every single area she's at is base and become Base Girl.

15 comments:

  1. I used to cheat at tag too!!! Don't worry - I turned out ok. (mostly) I also totally cheated at 7-Up, but I think most people did. You peek at their shoes!

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  2. Way to go mom! My girls are exactly the same when it comes to making friends at the park. Usually I'm base, so I have to shoo them away.

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  3. This story is so totally my Abby! Oh my Lord, yes! She would definitely do something like this and like you I would set her straight! Love it!-Ashley

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  4. Totally normal for her age, and for the next year or two. They all do it, then one kid finally calls them out on it, they have a big screaming match, and rules are finally declared for all future games. Don't worry, she's fine :)

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  5. Haven't seen that with my granddaughter yet, but the other day she and a new friend at the park declared the top of the giant slide area off-limits for boys. We set the girls straight, and then we had to tell one little boy that yes, he could go there now.

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  6. Hopefully she's see that there is no point to cheating at a game played for fun.

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  7. My oldest use to cheat at everything. She's some better now.

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  8. Oh - this story just made me laugh - mostly the inebriated idiot part (I know my boys think that about me sometimes!!!).
    I'm pretty sure that base and/or time-out was pretty misused when I played, too!!!

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  9. I hated playing tag with my little sister because as soon as you touched her, she would break down crying. She wanted to play, but she never wanted to be It!

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  10. My kids do the same thing. She'll probably listen better when her friends tell her off for it. But you've planted a seed. Of course, she'd never tell you that you were right!! :)

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  11. I have to admit, I did the same thing!

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  12. I can't help but think an interesting approach to rules adds character, but, as a kid, I was quite the stickler for the rules (yeah, I was a hoot!) so that would have annoyed me! Good for you for intervening!

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  13. Isn't that just like a kid? When you can't change the rules, change the activity.

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  14. Somebody has to make the rules. Usually the loudest one, so it sounds like it's Na.
    (wait - don't you guys live on base? of course she's base girl!)

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  15. You just described Princess and she's 11!! Lord help us all!!

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