Even though his insistence on rule and procedure means he'll make an excellent lawyer someday (perhaps even a Supreme Court justice), surely a boon to any mother's pride, the fact of the matter is that nobody likes a lawyer at recess time.

It reminds me of my high school nerd days playing Dungeons & Dragons and having to deal with the min/maxer, the one who was more concerned with sticking to the very letter of the law (and, not coincidentally, role-playing his character more toward stats than toward actually, y'know, playing a role).

Our DM dealt with that kid by invoking a rule in the book allowing the dungeonmaster to grant, at his discretion, extra experience points to those who stayed in character and stretching that rule to its absolute limit, even awarding the entire table except for the min/maxer an extra level at the conclusion of a quest, then telling the offending party that "I can do that, the rule book says so."

While Eli is playing kickball and not D&D, the fact remains that if he keeps being the annoying stickler he's going to get his comeuppance sooner or later, and if he's the intelligent kid he's portrayed to be in these "Family" columns, he'll emerge better off for it.

That's an extremely mild way for your DM to deal with the min/maxer. Truly enforcing all the rules of D&D can really wipe a player.

Yes, Eli is heading for a "comeuppance" one day for being a stickler for abiding by the rules, but at least he'll get there on his own terms. I respect that of Eli. He'll get there sticking up for what he knows to be right rather than rolling over and letting other people who cheat decide for him how the games he loves to play, get decided.

In other words, Eli is what we would want all of our sons and daughters to be - the true American who fights for what is right, plays hard, plays to win, but by the rules, and isn't afraid to speak up when the rules are broken.

When Eli does get his comeuppance, he'll learn to back off, to "go along and get along", to "let things slide".

And a big part of what makes Eli special will die that day.