Games with the kids

All of us have played board games and in most board games there is inevitably a part where if you land on a specific spot you have to move back a few spaces or even worse start from the beginning. Just this week we were playing MouseTrap with the kids. We don' play it by the rules as we build the trap right at the beginning and then just roll the dice to move our mice along. At one point in the game I landed on a go back to the beginning spot and the kids felt sorry for me but I explained to them that it's a part of the game and I could still catch up if I got some high numbers on my next few rolls. I kind of hate these games and I know you developmental types will tell me it's a good learning experience for them to understand winning and losing and... but when you want to sit down and get some fun time in on a rainy day there is nothing worse than someone whining about the game not being fair or that someone cheated. Stomping off and then coming back to try to destroy the evil game and those that are playing it.
As they get closer to that spot I see them counting to see what they have to roll to avoid the spot. Brian is one spot away and knows he should not get a 1. He says out loud "Jesus, please help me not get a 1, please Jesus."
At this point I start laughing and knowing that he was not trying to be funny I knew he would also be angry that I was laughing. He doesn't like getting laughs unless he is trying to get them. I know we don't usually ask for help from Jesus out loud at home so I assume the influence came from school and given we are close to His birthday I know they must be talking about it alot. The anger didn't last long and now that he knows he can get a laugh out of it he's asking for Jesus' help more and more.
Losing is a difficult thing for kids to accept and although you may want to paint it as a learning experience it seems they already have their minds made up that its not as good as winning. It's not our influence but rather a genetic thing. A desire to be first to win to do better than someone else. Probably a good thing to have as they move ahead in life.