Competitive...

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Testosterone is streaming through my teenage son and he feels the need to challenge me at just about everything. Even a casual stroll along the beach on Saturday resulted in a determined effort to see who could throw a stone furthest into the sea.

With the ripples on the water vanishing almost instantly in the waves it became very difficult to judge where one pebble landed in relation to another, but despite my dismissals and protestations, I’m pretty certain he won.

It’s a double edged sword for any father when his son can out perform him on certain undertakings: on the one hand there’s a sense of pride – what parent doesn’t want their children to eventually be better than them? If our offspring grow up to be bigger, faster, stronger and/or more intelligent than us, then it bodes well for the continuation of our genetic code. But at the same time, it’s a real blow to the ego when a 13 year old can beat you in a given task.

It might not be so awful, but he's such a bad winner. It’s not that he’s a particularly good loser either, but when he wins he does like to make a huge noise about it and takes every opportunity to remind you, you lost and he won.

I find I’m increasingly using my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as an excuse for underperformance, even when it’s not always justified…
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