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by rix0r 4441 days ago
The way I look at it, it's that the admonition, "don't be a cheater," is stated BEFOREHAND, before any cheating has taken place. The child then still has the opportunity to make being a "not-bad" person (i.e., a "good" person) a part of his or her identity.

If, on the other hand, the child had already cheated, you would express disappointment in that the supposedly good child had displayed uncharacteristic behavior.