Being a parent is quite the journey. There are a lot of things to think about, from caring for their basic needs to them achieve good grades, teaching them sports, helping them understand how to make friends and be social, and shaping them to become incredible adults who can make it in life. Encouraging healthy competition for child development is also important, although it might not be something you think of right off the bat. Technically, in life, there’s competition everywhere, not just in sports events, and not only in games that kids play at school.
For example, there’s competition to get into a good university, and there’s often competition for getting a job. In general, there’s competition all around — And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It doesn’t have to be scary or stressful either. Below, let’s look in more detail into why teaching your little ones about friendly rivalries matters, and some ways to introduce your child to it.
Why Encourage Competition? 6 Benefits for Your Child’s Development
While the word “competition” may evoke images of cutthroat rivalry, fostering a healthy, supportive environment for children to engage in friendly competition can offer numerous benefits that extend far beyond the playground or classroom. Besides, at the end of the day, you’re trying to shape your child to become a good adult, and getting them to understand that this isn’t some battle is going to be so important.
Healthy competition benefits your kids’ development by:
- Building resilience and grit
- Encouraging a growth mindset
- For good sportsmanship and teamwork
- Instilling goal setting skills
- Promoting social and emotional development
- Encouraging health risk taking
1. Building Resilience and Grit
Friendly competition provides children with opportunities to face challenges, setbacks, and disappointments in a safe and supportive environment. Whether it’s a sports match, a game, or an academic competition, participating teaches them how to cope gracefully with success and failure.
Just think of it this way: through experiencing both victory and defeat, children learn resilience, adaptability, and perseverance. Those are essential qualities that will serve them well throughout their lives.
2. Helps Them Develop a Growth Mindset
Did you know that engaging in friendly competition encourages children to adopt a growth mindset? That is, the belief that their abilities can develop through dedication and hard work.
Rather than viewing their talents as fixed traits, they learn that improvement is possible through effort and practice. This mindset shift can not only enhance your little one’s performance in competitive activities but also extend to other areas of their lives, such as academics and personal goals.
3. Needed for Cultivating Sportsmanship and Overall Teamwork
In a competitive setting, children learn the value of sportsmanship – respect, fairness, and integrity. They understand that winning isn’t everything and that how they play the game matters just as much. But, if you don’t teach them, then they will think that winning is everything, and they’re going to base their own value of themselves on this. That is unhealthy and can contribute to mental health issues.
Moreover, team-based competitions teach valuable lessons in collaboration, communication, and cooperation. By working together towards a goal, children develop crucial interpersonal skills that are vital for success in both personal and professional relationships.
4. Instill Goal Setting Skills
As mentioned earlier, there’s competition in everything. So, participating in friendly competition encourages your kids to set goals, whether it’s improving their personal best in a sport or achieving academic milestones. In general, setting goals provides them with direction and motivation, fostering a sense of purpose and accomplishment.
5. Creates Opportunities for Social and Emotional Development
The friendly competition offers ample opportunities for children to interact with their peers, building social bonds and friendships. Just think about it for a moment: through shared experiences, they develop empathy, compassion, and understanding towards others.
On top of that, navigating the highs and lows of competition helps children regulate their emotions, manage stress, and cope with pressure. Those skills are essential for navigating life’s challenges with resilience and grace.
6. It Encourages Healthy Risk-Taking Skills
Where would we be without innovation, right? Well, the competition encourages children to step out of their comfort zones, take risks, and explore their potential. You might not think that immediately at first, but there’s a lot of trust in it.
That can actually help push kids into trying a new sport, experimenting with creative solutions, or pushing the boundaries of their abilities. Friendly competition empowers children to embrace challenges with enthusiasm and curiosity. In general, this can actually help cultivate a culture of continuous improvement and excellence.
How Parents Can Introduce Children to Friendly Competition
Now that you have an idea of how important healthy compeition is, the next step is figuring out how to properly introduce it to youngsters, and to get it inside their mind that winning isn’t the only thing. With that said, here are 6 ways for parents to encourage friendly competition for child development.
1. Start Off with Playful Activities
Begin by introducing your child to playful activities that involve simple, non-competitive games. Whether it’s a game of tag, a scavenger hunt, other activities outdoors, or building blocks, these activities lay the foundation for understanding basic rules, taking turns, and cooperating with others.
Eventually, others, like other kids, can get into the mix but start small at first. You’ll want to emphasize the joy of participation rather than focusing solely on winning, encouraging a positive attitude towards competition from the outset.
2. Emphasize Effort and Improvement
It’s all about personal progress, so you’ll want to encourage your child to focus on their personal improvements rather than compare themselves to others. Try to start while they’re young, or else low self-confidence can be challenging to improve. As a parent, celebrate their efforts, resilience, and perseverance, regardless of the outcome.
3. Lead By Example as a Parent
Children learn by example, so be mindful of your own attitudes and behaviors towards competition. If you want them to have good sportsmanship, then be sure that you’re modeling good sportsmanship, respect for others, and a healthy approach to winning and losing.
Given the influence you have a role model for your kids, avoid placing undue pressure on them to excel or achieve specific outcomes. Instead, do your best to be supportive and encouraging to empower them to explore their potential, at their own pace.
4. Provide Them With Opportunities to Explore
As a parent, be sure that you’re exposing your child to a variety of activities and interests, allowing them to discover their passions and talents. Again, a lot of this does come with competition, so whether it’s sports, arts, academics, or extracurricular activities, encourage them to explore different avenues and find what resonates with them.
On top of that, it’s important to get involved where you can. That doesn’t mean that you need to coach them or take control, but it’s being involved that helps fuel friendly competition. For example, if your kid is doing sports, such as soccer, usually the school or sports club loves it when parents get involved, such as providing supplies like soccer bags, picking up and dropping off kids (hello soccer mom!), and so on.
In general, being a part of the exploration can help, but don’t be in it too much (don’t take control whatsoever). But overall, providing diverse opportunities for engagement allows children to develop a well-rounded skill set and discover where their strengths lie.
5. Create a Supportive Environment
Support often starts in the home. So, ensure that the competitive environments in which your child participates are supportive, inclusive, and focused on personal development rather than solely on winning. As your child grows, seek out programs, clubs, and teams that prioritize skill-building, teamwork, and character development.
What if your kid is in a sports club or any competitive team and the coach or whoever is only focusing on the win? That is an unhealthy environment for your child.
6. Foster a Growth Mindset
Finally, encourage your child to adopt a growth mindset. What that means is they believe that their abilities can be developed through effort and practice. To encourage this, praise their hard work, perseverance, and resilience, emphasizing the importance of learning from mistakes and setbacks.
On top of that, help them see challenges as opportunities for growth and failure is not a reflection of their worth but a stepping stone towards success. That is something else that will help them have high self-confidence with age.
What are your thoughts on healthy competition among kids?
Top photo by jesse ramirez on Unsplash.
Hi Christy, it is interesting to see you promoting competition. My family say I’m very competitive and so is my oldest son. They think its a bad thing. Strangely, I don’t think either Greg or I are competitive with other people. I think we just try to achieve our own best for ourselves. I do think healthy competition is good. It encourages achievement.
Yes, healthy competition! The word “competition” has gotten a bad reputation, Robbie, but there are good kinds too, in my opinion.
Great information, thanks for sharing.
And thank YOU for appreciate this one, Chantel!