Teaching Kids Healthy Competition: Guest Post by Nancy Parker

I'd like to thank Nancy Parker for the following guest post. Enjoy!

Competition has become this ugly monster that we try to shield our kids from, instead of encouraging the idea that everyone is the best at everything, and that there is no one person or team who ranks higher than others. However is all of this equality in events and activities that are supposed to be competitive really doing our kids any good, or is it making them less equipped to deal with life out in the real world? Being competitive to the point of degrading others is certainly not something we want to instill in our children, but a little healthy competition can be beneficial. Here are four ways we can teach our kids healthy competition:

          1. Instill the value of competing for your own personal best: Whether it’s out on the field, in a meet, or at the local spelling bee, teach your kids that they always need to strive to beat their own personal best. By focusing on their own improvements, the competition shifts from who is the best overall to how much better your child did individually as compared to the last time. 


          2. Encourage kids to try several different activities: Instead of denying failure in one sport and forcing kids to practice repeatedly, despite their overall unhappiness at doing so, let them try out several different sports or activities until they find one that they find the most personal satisfaction in. When you find something you’re passionate about, even if you’re not the best at it, you naturally want to try to improve, versus being forced to do something that you have no interest in. 

          3. Be a good role model: Show your kids the joy that comes from always striving to do your best by displaying those behaviors in everything you do. Kids need to see that losing doesn’t have to mean getting upset or defeated; they need to see that losing can be used as an opportunity for improvement. This attitude begins with you; as their parent you are their greatest role model. 

          4. Review failures together: Instead of getting upset when your child fails an exam or loses a big game, review what happened together. Ask him if he studied enough for his test or practiced enough for his game, and what can be done the next time around that will result in a better outcome. Use failure as a learning experience that can be improved on for higher success next time. 


When we constantly reward failure and embrace losing, we teach our kids that striving for better is unnecessary. However we should always be reaching for a new personal best, and as parents we need to teach kids how to do that. Competition shouldn’t be an ugly thing; it should be something to look forward to, and something that pushes kids to excel. It’s very alive in the real world, and sheltering kids from it is only setting them up for a rude awakening when they leave the nest.


Author Bio
Nancy Parker was a professional nanny and she loves to write about wide range of subjects like health, Parenting, Child Care, and Babysitting, find a nanny tips etc. You can reach her @ nancy.parker015 @ gmail.com.