Today as I was watching the latest episode of the Five, they were discussing the fact that kids these days aren’t playing to win, especially at the younger age. As the panel sat and shared their opinion, one thing is clear, they all agreed that the removal of the winner also destroyed the chance of developing graceful losers. If you have ever lost a board game to a sore loser, chances are someone spent the next few minutes picking up the pieces off the floor. Another classic example of this ungraceful behaviour is sometimes seen when a child loses their place in musical chairs; which by the way is banned in some districts (musical chairs, not ungraciousness).
As a non parent, some say that my opinion is moot on this matter, however having participated in both competitive and non competitive activities as a child myself, I feel those experiences helped me to mature into a well rounded adult. Playing video games with my younger brothers was rife with competitiveness and my skills were sorely lacking. Sure I would get angry and frustrated, but never was the controller damaged by my ire, and the rare fluke where I won was met with joyous celebration. That same joy I felt winning that round of street fighter was the same joy I felt when I was the one who touched the wall first in competitive swimming.
To take this point to its extreme would be to ask, why does anyone want to remove joy from a child’s life? The sense of accomplishment is sweeter when your efforts surpass the competition. Furthermore, why do we find it necessary to prevent success? You’re taxed more when earning more income, but grades in school are sacrosanct and individual. I doubt high schools and colleges would ever stop honoring valedictorians but if enough whiners made enough noise, I’m sure we’d see the death of scholastic competition as well.
Today’s world is quickly becoming absent of winners while being controlled by whiners.
I fully agree with you! I think at a very young age it might be alright to be in a sport for participation and fun, but as they grow, a child does need to learn the rules of the game, the real way it is played, to win, to lose; as you’ve said to learn the feelings of one’s own accomplishments, to feel the joy of overcoming; or defeat, learning from it and setting goals of doing better. I say this as a parent. My son was in Tball and Coach Pitch when he was small and he had a great time enjoying it, but after a few years I wanted him to be able to learn the true way of playing the sport, to be able to feel the joy of getting someone out , whether as a player or pitcher, and stealing a base when the opportunity presents itself, etc. Seriously, how does a parent or anyone for that matter expect a kid to grow into a well-rounded adult that can make acceptional decisions without having experience to do so.