How to Make Kids Competitive

Youth competition is healthy in moderate doses. The concept of being competitive gives children something for which to strive, to work hard to achieve and to feel confident when they are successful. Competition can, however, be a huge letdown for the kid that doesn't win. It can also become an obsession that leads to extreme behaviors, if the competitive appetite is too strong. Some children are more naturally competitive than others. If you sense that your kids need to be more competitive, show them how, but remind them that the competitive streak should not consume them and that winning isn't everything.

Instructions

    • 1

      Discover your kid's motivation. Find out the types of things about which he feels most passionate or motivated. For instance, if a child really likes video games, you can then use the video game as a means of teaching competition. If a child is more interested in arts and crafts, this, too, can become a competitive focus.

    • 2

      Teach kids how to set healthy goals in their areas of interest. Goals make kids strive harder to achieve a high level in things they enjoy, which inspires competition. If a child is interested in sports, talk about the goal of playing on a high school varsity team, university team or going pro. Tell kids that professional athletes had to work hard to become successful. Inspire competitiveness by taking kids who are interested in sports to see a professional ball game. Or, if a kid is interested in art, take the child to an art museum to see famous paintings, which, too, inspires the child to set competitive goals.

    • 3

      Enroll kids in competitive activities, such as youth sports. Youth sports teams teach kids how to become competitive within the athletic realm, and also teach them about being team players. When kids work together towards a unified goal with a team they develop their competitiveness because they motivate each other and get one another excited about winning.

    • 4

      Encourage your child to always try her best, even when she doesn't win a competition. Let her know that it's okay that she doesn't always win, but what matters is how much effort she puts into the competitive activity. Teach kids how to be mature losers by learning to congratulate the winners and respect the good job they did.

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