Is it me or do you find that many boys that play competitive baseball are little jerks? Maybe it's the extreme competitive nature of baseball, maybe it's their parents teaching them that second place is not an option, maybe it's that they are never taught to lose gracefully....what is it? What is it that makes kids cry when they lose? Why? (not just kids that play baseball, it's and example, however, very true of kids that play baseball).
I remember being at a birthday party of a friend several years ago and she had a swimming race in her pool. One child won and got a medal, the other children cried and threw a fit, so she gave them all medals......this isn't the way it should be. If you win, you win. If you lose, you lose. Please teach your kids to lose. It's important to learn to lose. We lose frequently in life. Imagine not getting a job and crying on your way out the door. Teach kids to handle being a smidge less than perfect. Be happy that we aren't perfect. Embrace the things you're good at and love them, but not so much you cry when you lose.
We need to bring back dodgeball.....life is just like dodgeball. You get hit, you learn to dive, you get hit again, you learn to dip, you get hit again, you learn to dodge. Dodge the balls of life.
YEA!!!!! We are cut from the same cloth, for sure! I get so irritated when that happens. It even carries over into the classroom! It doesn't serve kids well at all to give them rewards which they didn't earn. Kids need to work for it and be ok they did their best, even if they weren't THE BEST! LIke my favorite quote says, "Winning isn't always a victory, and losing isn't always a defeat!" LOL....Thanks Doogie Howser, MD! And thank you Joey!
ReplyDeleteI sat through an entire soccer game my niece played in where they didn't even KEEP SCORE! I mean, c'mon...it's a game and the kids sure as shit knew the score. But somehow the parents delude themselves with ideas of fairness and that keeping score is bad. Keeping score is LIFE, my friend. I hate that bullshiz.
ReplyDeleteI have one that wins... all the time, and on the rare occasion she doesn't she cries and pouts. drives me Crazy(ier)
ReplyDelete'Sure as shit' we keep score in U8 soccer! We went undefeated and everyone knew because they kept score too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But when the kids started acting like jerks, I let mine know, it's not ok because 'sure as shit' Karma will kick your butt and you WILL lose soon. This should have been titled "GRACE".
ReplyDeleteMy dad and I were just discussing this at Brayden's t-ball game yesterday. It is a team of 3-5 year olds and they don't take score...they just play "for fun." My dad is of the opinion they should take score even at this age...to begin teaching the lesson of winning vs. losing. And it got me thinking...who made the decision not to take score for this age bracket? Doesn't it seem like things are so much more complicated than they need to be?
ReplyDeleteMy first born is still young (4) so I have a way to go, but what happened to a more simple way of life, ya know? Learning sports and the rules by gathering up siblings and neighboorhood kids and playing in a field from sun up till sun down (which is how my dad and his brothers figured a lot of it out). Why does it seem like things are harder than they need to be sometimes? It just makes parenting that much harder too.
Well what happened is VIDEO GAMES!!! The brain rot of our generation and beyond : )Mine are on them now. Their friends are on them too, probably. Also, kidnappings and busy or lazy parents. I am among the above sometimes. My kids play more video games than they should, but it's easy. It's hard to get off my butt after a long day corralling other peoples children!!! Nathan and I would have to go out and play with them. We do sometimes, we aren't total lazy asses : )
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