6 year old obsessed with winning?

[jennykerty]

Our son is 6 years old and in kindergarten.  (Only child) He does very well in school--academically and socially. Lately he seems to be obsessed with winning and losing.
He transforms small things into contests:  "I have 8 jellybeans; 6 red and 2 yellow--the red ones are winning!"
We wants to watch sports all the time, and talks about the score the entire time.  He wants to watch ESPN, just to read the scores at the bottom of the page, to see who won and who lost.--sometimes he'd rather watch this than cartoons!  He creates little games on sheets of paper, where he always wins against his friends (real and imaginary) He can tell you the score of every Steelers game in the last season.  
In the last year, he just started playing t-ball, soccer, basketball, etc.  (He seems to love all of them and enjoy playing)
When grandma calls, the first thing he tells her is the score of the latest game he saw.

Is this just a phase, or do we need to intervene?
We tell him that "it is just a game"  "we are playing to have fun, not to win"  Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose"

We do not want to ignore a potential problem, but then we don't want to turn something benign into a problem by over interference.
Do we stop him from watching baseball(and other sports) on TV for awhile? (I caught him watching Poker the last night, for goodness sakes!)

Thanks
Jenny

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

As long as your son is thriving and enjoying the various challenges posed to children his age you really do not have to intervene in any extraordinary way. It sounds like he is mastering the various aspects of his life: home, school, friendships, activities. Don't press around the issue of winning/losing, but of course continue to model the sensible approach to recreation that you indicated in your note. Some children just happen to be more competitive than others in the sense of paying close attention to the win/lose aspect of competition. Having said all that, I would suggest not permitting him to watch the televised Poker games. The reason is say this is because it can develop into a fascination with gambling vs an interest in card games per se. Among adolescents, a problem has arisen around proliferation of gambling, in part likely associated with the popularity of such televised card games. To be competitive in relation to athletic contests (or others) is one thing; to become infatuated with gaming is quite another.

[Tula]

I have 6 children all of whom are 15 to 20 now my two youngest are very close in age 11 months to be exact.  they are both very competetive with one another.  when they were younger it was all about winning.  I think its all a part of learning I would continue to moniter him and keep doing what you are doing by telling him its just a game just because we dont win all the time doesn't mean its a bad thing.  I have taught my kids its how we respond to a loss it is all in there attitude.  i have tried to help them to see that they can learn so much when they don't win.  or even when they win.  continue to try to make it a positive.  in winning and losing.  well good luck sounds like he is a very smart little boy.  by the way i have 5 girls and 1 boy and whenever games are on tv the house shakes.  if you know what i mean.  its a guy thing