My sister and I lost a bet with our dad, but we don’t think he played fair.

Can he hold us to it? Not if he cheated, says our elder.

Dear EWC

OK, I should start this by saying that our dad is really good at magic. Like, he’s performed for charity events and stuff like that. He’s good at sleight of hand stuff, which is how he pulled this off. Anyway, my sister and I are both freshmen in high school (we’re twins btw). We’re both thinking of trying out for track, so last weekend we were practicing racing in the backyard against each other. At one point between races, we were trying to catch our breath when dad came up behind us and said something and made us jump. We hadn’t realized he was there. He said he’d been watching us race and wanted in. He bet us that if we could beat him in a race, then we wouldn’t have to do any chores for a month. But if he won, we’d get double the amount we usually do. We were game and agreed to race him. We lined up and took off when he said go. We were halfway to the finishing point and ahead of him when suddenly we found ourselves being jerked off our feet and onto our butts! Dad stopped running and just walked the rest of the way. Turns out, he’d taken one end of a rope and tied it to the back belt loop of my pants and the other end was tied to my sister’s back belt loop. And during the race, we’d run past a tree on opposite sides. Gotta give him credit, we didn’t see that coming! Thing is, he wants to hold us to the bet and give us twice as many chores! We don’t think this is fair given the way he won. What do you think? Should we have to honor this bet? If not, how can we convince him to let us off the hook?

Aondreaa replies

What your dad did unfair and constituted cheating. It was also cruel and dangerous. You and/or your twin could have suffered a neck or spinal injury with his rope ‘trick’. Game over. Deal breaker. Bet is off.
Picture this scenario in the context of a bona fide race. What would the outcome be if a coach or athlete did this to an opposing competitor? Fired, right? Banned from future participation. Your dad needs to think about his actions.
You girls should not have to beware of your father jeopardizing your safety.

Letter #: 432304
Category: Family