Last week, I went to our local sports complex to watch my niece and nephew play softball and t-ball, respectively. Just lettin’ you know, we, the members of my family, don’t play around. We’re in it to win it. My five-year-old nephew found himself running from third base, his assigned position, to right field, clear across the entire field. He clearly felt the other team members were not retrieving the ball fast enough. I must agree with you, little nephew. My three-year-old niece sat there cheering her brother on, yelling with attitude “that’s MY brother” whenever he hit the ball or made a good play. At the end of the game, he ran over to my sister and yelled, “See, Mama, I told you we were gonna beat that team.” That night, they handed out trophies to all the kids, and much to the delight of the audience, my little nephew exclaimed “alright!!!” at the mention of his name. He enjoyed the taste of victory and slept with his trophy that night.
Then, my mom and I drove to the softball field to watch my niece, my brother’s daughter. There, the competitive spirit came mostly from my mom and me as we barked out orders to the eight-year-old girls running around the field chaotically. At one point, the enemy (or the other team for those with a less competitive spirit) hit the ball in my niece’s direction, and another girl caught it. With a force-out at third base, we pleaded with the girl to tag the runner out. Our adrenaline must have kicked in because we failed to acknowledge the runner on the ground, as we continued to yell for the girl to tag her out. Don’t worry, she did tag her out. And the runner was completely fine. They did, however, allow the girl to stay on third, which we did not really understand.
“But…but…she was out,” my mom complained.
“I know, Mom, but they probably play with the ‘everybody’s-a-winner’ mentality. Our family’s probably a little too competitive to play by those rules.”
Now, nobody be alarmed for my future children. I promise that I will teach my kids to accept winning and losing graciously, but there’s no problem with teaching them that winning is so much more enjoyable, right? Right? I hope so.
Then, my mom and I drove to the softball field to watch my niece, my brother’s daughter. There, the competitive spirit came mostly from my mom and me as we barked out orders to the eight-year-old girls running around the field chaotically. At one point, the enemy (or the other team for those with a less competitive spirit) hit the ball in my niece’s direction, and another girl caught it. With a force-out at third base, we pleaded with the girl to tag the runner out. Our adrenaline must have kicked in because we failed to acknowledge the runner on the ground, as we continued to yell for the girl to tag her out. Don’t worry, she did tag her out. And the runner was completely fine. They did, however, allow the girl to stay on third, which we did not really understand.
“But…but…she was out,” my mom complained.
“I know, Mom, but they probably play with the ‘everybody’s-a-winner’ mentality. Our family’s probably a little too competitive to play by those rules.”
Now, nobody be alarmed for my future children. I promise that I will teach my kids to accept winning and losing graciously, but there’s no problem with teaching them that winning is so much more enjoyable, right? Right? I hope so.
