26/07/2021
SPORTS TEACH YOU TO FAIL
A recent trending story on the New York Times parenting platform was titled “Teach Your Kids to Fail.” Child psychologists and other experts have been touting the benefits of grit, risk taking and resilience for years, noting that for modern children, raised in the shadow of helicopter parents, those attributes are on the wane. More than almost any other childhood arena, sports demonstrate clearly that you win some, you lose some. Getting knocked down and getting back up again are baked into the game. There’s also an invaluable lesson in the ritual of ending every kids’ sporting event with each player shaking hands with (or high-fiving) her opponents and saying “Good game.” As noted by the WSF, “Sport gives you experience so you learn to win graciously and accept defeat without blowing the experience out of proportion. You learn to separate the outcome of a game or your performance in one game from your worth as a person.” Wouldn’t it be great to see your daughter apply those lessons to all social or academic setbacks?
