Mahesh was always a winner in everything he did. Right from making it to the school cricket team to becoming a CEO at 29, he was always the best. But Sarika, his wife liked to take things at a cooler pace. While they both agreed that a healthy level of competition was important, they failed to instill it in their seven year old.

Are you one of the moms who find it unnerving that kids are subjected to competition at a very tender age?
Do you feel bogged down by all the expectations you are expected to have from your child?
Do you fail to teach your child to view competition in a healthy way?

Whether you like it or not, competition is a fact of life. And the sooner your kids learn this, the better off they will be. If you are still not sure about instilling competitiveness in your kids, try to differentiate between competing and winning. It is not important to win all the time. But it is important to compete and give your best. This is what you have to teach your kids. You can instill a healthy spirit of competition in your kids by teaching them:

Taking A Chance

When your three year old breaks down plastic toys to see what is inside, dont yell at them. Encourage your kids to take risks and learn new things. Taking a chance could be in the form of taking up a new sport/game or making new friends, or even something as simple as taking off the side-wheels from their bicycles. This will prepare them for challenges in life like tackling interviews, asking for promotions etc. This also ensures that your kid will be able to propose to his/her love bina kisi darr!!!

Perseverance

Losing is as much a part of healthy competition as winning is. Teach your kids to lose with grace. After all in a competition everyone cannot win. Kisi ko to haarna padega na boss. When your child loses in a game or competition, dont point out what he did wrong. Instead, point out what he did right and what you liked about his performance. Praise him for his efforts and encourage him to try harder next time. Perseverance is about bouncing back with doubled efforts and energy.

Sportsman Spirit

Besides learning to lose with grace, your kids also need to learn a few other things. The sooner they learn the better off they will be. Teach them to play/compete with honesty and fairness. Also teach them the importance of maintaining calm and cool at all the times during competition. When losing, they should not display anger. This hampers the spirit of sportsmanship and also decreases their performance. So gaalis or funny signs/faces should be discouraged.

Making Their Own Choices

The commonest mistake that parents make is trying to live their own unrealized dreams through their children. This is very wrong and unfair to kids. Let your child decide what he or she likes to do before you encourage (read force) him or her to participate in any competition. Try to notice what your kids are interested in and encourage them accordingly. Dont pull a face if your son tells you he wants to learn figure skating or ballet dancing or gymnastics.