Tips To Develop A Solid Foundation Of Healthy Competition In The Child

Just like seedlings that compete with weeds and other plants in order to emerge and flourish, children need support and cultivation in order to develop a healthy competitive spirit.One of the best way to teach your children about healthy competition is to provide opportunities that are as close to real-life competition experience as possible. However, don’t overwhelm them by over scheduling competitions.
Developing a solid foundation of healthy competition in the children requires some ground work. You need to develop a couple of primary skills in your children:

Security
Make your child feel secure by communicating openly with them. As competition day comes closer, encourage them and talk about any positive or negative emotions they might be feeling.

Confidence
Build your child’s confidence by showing trust and getting them involved. For example, ask them to create a checklist of tasks and items you need to get ready for competition. This will make them feel confident and also get them involved and excited about the big day.

A Good Coach
It is important that you help them learn the art or their favourite sport under the guidance of experts in the field. Good coaches who encourage healthy competition are key to your kids picking up on the skills without any negative emotions.

Above all, show your child love through words of affirmation, physical affection, and time spent together. Invite loved ones to come cheer them on and provide moral support.

TIP#1: Let your kids know that even you lost some games along the way. Tell them your favourite story of tripping into the swimming pool at the big match, or dropping your clarinet in the marching band competition. You may have felt bad at the moment, but you learned valuable lessons, right?

TIP #2: Deal with the sore loser syndrome. How? Laugh. Before a game or match, tell each kid he must show up with a joke—to be told after the competition is over. Who gets to tell his joke after the game is over? The kid who comes in last. That way the loser gets the best laugh and the “atta-boys” from everyone else.

TIP #3: Encourage your kids to try diverse activities. Let your kids experience the thrill that others get when they gear up for a spelling bee, a science fair, or a track and field meet. No one expects the spelling bee winner to also win first prize for the pole vault.

TIP #4: Borrow this idea from golfers—the handicap. It’s okay to say, “Josh, you usually win the hundred-yard dash by two strides. Let’s give everyone else a two-stride lead, and really test you!”

TIP #5: Teach kids to compete against themselves. Competition isn’t always about beating someone else to the finish line. Challenge your kids to learn Italian and then save up for a trip to Rome or to Little Italy in Boston.

Sooner or later your kids will realize they’re in a competitive world. But they don’t have to see it as “dog-eat-dog.” If you equip them with the right attitude,