I'm trying to figure this out. My son (11) loves to play games. He honestly doesn't care much about winning; he plays for the fun of it. He doesn't seem very much a perfectionist when it comes to schoolwork - most of it is sloppy and bare minimum. His SS teacher is constantly writing "elaborate", "explain", "more detail" on his papers. He enjoys playing baseball but won't practice; same with music and karate. He puts no effort into boy scouts but just goes to the meetings and activities and has fun. So all these things seem to point away from perfectionism. Seems like he'd work hard on it if he were seeking perfection??
Meanwhile I'm thinking this screams perfectionism because lack of effort or apparent lack of interest is a protective mechanism against fear of failure.
