Children require guidance from their parents and caregivers. It is why you should take initiative to develop positive traits such as competitiveness in their early stages of development. Look for fun competitions they can participate in.

Raising A Child To Be Competitive In A Healthy And Positive Manner

Your child needs love, and guidance. Introduce them to competitions in a similar way. It will help them to embrace it positively. Once you learn what they like, stick to these. No need to force the child to compete in swimming if they hate water activities.

Be there for them when they practice, when they win or when they lose. Ensure your motivation stems from wanting them to be better people for their own benefit and not yours.

Always be on the lookout for competitions near you, but confirm they only join in the ones they are excited about. When introducing your child to games for example, it is important to explain what the game is about. Pick fun games where they will enjoy themselves and make friends.

In short, let it not be about winning. Always tell them to have fun participating to eliminate any pressure they might feel. Focus should be on them enjoying themselves even while competing. A game like ping pong for instance, is perfect for a beginner.

You can explain to them the name of the game comes from the sound the ball makes when it hits the paddle or rack as players throw it across the ping pong table. They will find this intriguing.

Introduce them to music competitions, playing musical instruments, and theater performances. Music is said to help children develop their mental faculties. Kid singing competitions will help them learn to socialize, develop cognitively, and gain performance courage.

Some common types of competitions for kids are:

• writing skills
• art and craft
• mathematics and numbers
• music
• theatre
• games and sports
• spelling
• debate
• speed texting or typing
• modeling
• dance

Benefits Of Your Child Being Competitive

Your child reaps the benefits of engaging in competitions while they are still young and later in life. Some of these benefits include:

1. Skill building

Competitive activities like games help the kids to learn skills. They build their athletic skills as they compete, because they want to perform well. They also learn new ways to play from their peers. Competitions encourage children to give their best. In the process, they master the key components of a game, or any activity.

2. They develop confidence

When you introduce children to be competitive, they get used to such situations. When they win they understand they have the power to stand above challenges, when they put in the effort. They also have fun being part of a competition. This improves their ability to address issues or problems later in life with the knowledge that challenges can be overcome.

3. It helps in dealing with high pressure situations

Life has moments with a lot of pressure. A child raised to be competitive has learnt to handle the pressure of practicing, keeping time, playing by the rules of a game, and mastering movements and action.

They learn to handle pressure instead of cowering under its weight. They can be better at taking tests, learning how to drive in their teenage years, public speaking, and performance.

4. They learn about fitness

Competitions involving actively engaging the body for example cycling, swimming, and table games communicate to the child the importance of fitness. They are likely to maintain such activities even when they are older. The chances of them contracting lifestyle diseases as a result of unfitness will be minimal.

5. Learning to reach their best potential

Competitive activities encourage children to try their best to achieve the most positive outcome. They will soon apply this to their schoolwork as well as the chores they help out with at home. In the long run, they will join extracurricular activities in school and participate full heartedly. They will apply the same character in their adult life in the job space, with friends, and their own families.

6. Setting goals and planning to achieve them

All stages of life need goal setting skills and planning your time to achieve them. When you encourage children to set goals for example if they are practicing for a piano playing competition, they can set a goal to learn playing different music focusing on different notes daily.

When they get used to this, it will be like second nature to them. They will always write down their goals, which provides a sense of direction. They will also map out ways to accomplish them.

7. Mental development

Getting your child to compete for example in singing games helps them cognitively. Studies show that music boosts children mental development. Sports, debates, and math contests assist them to develop critical thinking skills from an early age.

8. Multiple talents

Your child discovers something about themselves when they engage in competitive activities. They can join a spelling bee, a musical act, play instruments, audition for a play, etc. Doing these things, helps them to discover their sources of passion. 

If they find they sing better than they act, or they play the guitar better than the piano, they stick to these. The would never have discovered they are good at any of these things if they had not participated in events and competitions.

9. Handling defeat

When you introduce your child to competitive environments, it is important to explain they will not always emerge winners. Sometimes they will perform averagely, other times they will be among the last. If you tell them it is okay to lose, it happens, they can handle defeat, rejection, and not getting something they wanted in a healthy manner. 

This is healthy competing.

Being able to move on past such circumstances is important. They understand the future may grant them something better, they are better at something else or they just did not have enough skills to win and that is okay.

Final Words

Although some people view competitiveness as ugly behavior, encouraging your child to be competitive in a healthy manner will help them gain useful life skills. As long as they are taught to manage their competitiveness, children will understand competing isn’t just about winning; there is so much more fun to it than that.