perfect

I think my poor child is more like me than I knew. This morning we went to our first basketball practice/game for Tommy. He started out great, there's lots of running and whatnot so he was a fan. Then he started to pick up the rules of the game and realized that he was not yet terribly great at it. Most 4-year-olds don't care but this child has the blood of his mother and grandfather running in his veins, he feels the need to be perfect, at everything. First he was upset that he wasn't getting the ball, then when he did get the ball and tried for a shot, missing it, he sobbed in frustration that he hadn't made it. The other kids are thrilled just to touch the ball and if they happened to throw the ball at the net, so much the better. Not my kid. He spent about a third of the game in some form of tears, he was so frustrated he could hardly stand it. He actually sat out the last few minutes of the game sitting on the bench chatting with one of the officials because it had just gotten to be too much for him. I really try to teach him that's it's ok to fail. Maybe he senses that I don't always apply that theory to myself. Maybe it's genetic and he just can't help it. I wish I could convey to him the fact that no matter what he does he will always be perfect in my eyes. For now, I will send him out to the driveway to practice with Dad so that the next game maybe he'll make his first basket.