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?
