This morning, Nathaniel participated in his very first competition of any sort. He has been wanting a trophy for about a year now and we repeatedly have told him that he has to work hard and earn one. It has been a pretty big deal. We have not signed him up for sports where everyone receives a trophy because we want him to feel a sense of pride in his accomplishment and not develop a sense of entitlement. Well, our karate school held a competition this morning just for the kiddos in the school and they competed only against their own age and belt level. Nathaniel practiced hard this last week and the work paid off. We talked and talked and talked about how to manage his emotions if he did not get a trophy (he lost a raffle a few years ago and had one of the biggest melt downs of his life) and how to be a good sport. We felt pretty prepared. He performed his routine and ended up in a tie so they had to repeat their routines for a tie breaker....here are the results for the tie breaker:
He pulled out first place!
We were pretty excited that he would finally get a much desired trophy...but we never expected THIS.
The thing is as big as he is.
Pretty pumped. Marissa is equally as excited!
(Yes, he was a good sport and told his competitor good job - she also got a trophy!)
Pretty proud of our little dude.
