You know that old saying….
It’s not the winning that matters, it’s the taking part that counts
…. Well, if I’m honest, I’m not entirely convinced that it’s true – surely a bit of healthy competition is good for children and prepares them for a life which is more than likely going to involve competing with others for something they want at some point.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to teach my children to be ultra competitive little people but I do think that there is a happy medium that will teach them how important it is to not only be a good loser but to learn the even more important skill (to me anyway) of being a gracious winner.
Last night at football practice, they had a bit of a Euro 2012 tournament, except at the end, when the children asked the coach what the score was , he said he hadn’t been keeping count because it didn’t matter who won as long as they’d all had fun.
I completely agree that it doesn’t really matter who won, but I do find it strange that in a football match, the coach didn’t keep score. Surely there is no harm in the team who won, mostly because they worked their socks off, knowing that their hard work paid off and they won. It wouldn’t have hurt the losing team, who spend half of their time at the side of the pitch having a drink or doing their hair (*cough* Miss Frugal) that they weren’t the winners.
It wasn’t even necessary to say who came second, third and last but I genuinely think that the winners should feel as though they won and I can’t see what harm it would have done either them, or the teams who didn’t win.
I know this is the time of year that schools are holding their annual Sports Days and I’ve heard that lots of them are none competitive this year. Our schools has been rained off twice so has now been cancelled completely but I hope that they would have allowed some healthy competition between the children.
Is it just me?
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Health is quite important for the students. The healthy diet is quite necessary and best optometry schools are perfect. We must understand the importance of schools.
Competition is healthy, and it helps us to strive to achieve more. I wonder if the kids will try as hard next time, if they know there is no sense of achievement at the end of the game.
that's exactly what I was trying to say – but you said it better ;-D
There's always a competition in real life, schools need to get you ready for this!
but also they should explain that loosing is just the sign, that you need to work harder next time
Katherine
Saving Mummys Money https://www.savvymummys.co.uk/
It's not sending a good message t children if everyone is a winner imho x
Hmm, I think that there is nothing wrong with a little healthy competition.
Exactly!
I don't get why they are doing this, competition is healthy as in real life there is always competition, it's good to teach kids how to deal with loosing as well as winning too. Imagine major sporting events with no winners!
True – what about the Olympics with no winners. Apparently that would be OK as long as all the athletes had fun though lol
That is daft that he did not keep score. as much as we want to protect them, we cannot and at times should not, otherwise children do need to learn to deal with this later in life.
Unusually my eldests middle school (years 4-7) had a competitive sports day, with places 1-3 scoring points for their class. The winning class from each year then got a trophy.
Plus one of the teachers at the school asked if we liked it in this competitive mode; we all said yes and she walked away pleased!
Exactly – it's not good to protect them from everything!