4 year old and losing

[WTRH]

Hi mum's...

We have a 4.5 year old boy who is quite a whirlwind and always on the move....

We have recently decided to sign him up to a football class which lasts about an hour every Saturday. He really loves the class and all the activities. The problems start when the coaches split the class into teams and the match begins for roughly 15 minutes. My son literally hates losing and starts having a tantrum the second his team let's in a goal and won't stop crying... I have to pull him out of the game and try and explain to him that you can't always win and to go back out there and try your best but I'm not to sure he's taking it all in as he just keeps crying

Anyone else experienced this or any advice as putting him into team games is really difficult and stressful.

Thanks for any advice x

This could be my 4 year old. Hates to lose too. I wish I had an answer!

We wish we had an answer too as it makes the day so stressful! We've just come back from a party where he played football really nicely with older kids but in a competitive environment its awful and he just breaks down when they score or he loses ..... We have no idea what to do...

It's a stage that kids have to go through. We had this problem with board games. They needed to learn not to gloat if they win but also realise that they might win next time.

This is exactly like my little boy who just turned 4 a few days ago. He has to score the goal at football or he cries, even if someone in his team scores, he still cries!

I'm looking into getting some books for his age group that talk about winning/losing and hoping this might help reading them to him. Also we play a few games in the house like Snakes and Ladders, again he hates to lose but I've been trying to talk loudly over his cries saying well done to the winner and clapping, getting him to then calm down and clap along too. I think just practicing as well scoring goals with family members at the park and clapping when they score. I'm then hoping when at football, he does this with others score... its a long shot!

Let's hope it's a quick phase their going through and passes soon!