This is a controversial topic I think, even among parents and those who spend a lot of time around children – do you let them win?

On the one hand, games are meant to be fun. On the other, losing gracefully is a skill that needs to be taught.

OP is a 17yo boy who apparently never thought too hard about it until his elementary-school-aged cousins challenged him to Mario Kart.

The title basically says it all.

I (17m) was recently over at my aunt and uncle’s house. They have two kids, my little cousins Willow (9) and Miles (6). My aunt recently bought a switch for the cousins, and they’ve been getting obsessed with Mario Kart.

Almost immediately, the cousins challenged me, my parents, and my sister to a race. I had to go help my uncle with his car (I work part time at an auto shop and had promised to take a look at it) but said that I would be back to race once I was finished.

He beat them a bunch of times (smoked them, actually), until the younger one was crying and needed comfort.

About thirty minutes later, I came back into the house and my cousins met me at the door to get me to race, it was adorable. We sat down and played, and I smoked them. I’m not particularly good at Mario Kart, but I’ve been playing for a while and they just started playing two weeks ago.

The cousins demanded a rematch and I obliged, then when I smoked them again, a re-rematch.

Several rounds and not a single victory later, Willow was in awe of my “epic skills”, but Miles started crying.

My aunt, having heard Miles crying, came in the room and I explained the situation. My aunt comforted Miles while my mom took me aside.

His mother told him he was dense and of course he was supposed to let them win, but he’s curious whether or not this is a universal rule.

Apparently, there had been an unspoken agreement between my mom, aunt, and sister to go easy on my cousins and let them win. My mom called me a jerk for being “so mean” to my cousins.

I told her that I didn’t know, and she called me an idiot because apparently it’s common knowledge to go easy on kids.

I knew of no such common knowledge, but maybe I’m just a moron like my mom said. AITA?

The comments actually contain some really great advice!

Like the top comment, which says the important thing to remember is the point of playing the game in the first place.

Some parents, of course, agree that OP did nothing wrong.

This person says it’s ok that he needed to be told because unspoken rules are dumb.

The bottom line is that everyone needs to be having fun or what’s the point?

Because Mario Kart gonna Mario Kart.

This is kind of a funny one.

I think most people have to learn the hard way that making kids cry is not the way.