Sports and children

[philosopherqueen]

Sports contribute to our competiveness and recreation, but is is worse than it is good? Do you believe that there are somethings children can do besides sports that could be better for them? Does the competiveness have a bad influence on children? Think about it: the overly competive parents and coaches. Does reading, writing, T.V., video games, or other activites have a better influence?

[Wizzy]

Well... I can't really see a bad side with beeing competitive, unless when it gets to the level of the parent pushing his 5year old kid out of the way to get to the car first... But other then that, isn't it a good thing to be competitive? To feel that you have to beat everybody els? Won't you apply yourself more and work harder at what ever it is you do?

Books, TV etc. are also good for the mind and creativety, and should also be used but in moderation, we've all probably had the over-educated teacher when it goes from beeing great information to beeing some blurry mess of information.. not a good thing...

[de_budding]

Well you highlight the competitiveness as the negative aspect, which is correct.
But it is the only downside and is a result of ignorant parenting. Children who obsessively cheat at any game (sports or board or whatever) have suffered this parental ignorance. It most likely results from when a child is praised for winning or excelling in a game but the issue of losing is never addressed. What the child misses is the point of a game and the process of playing, which of course is the fun part- what point is a game which goes straight to the awards ceremony without the actual playing? Well this is what can result, children recognise the winning or losing as the point of the game, which of course it isn't.

Unfortunately this misperception of games is usually imposed by dads looking to raise a tough, winning son or whatever, I know a six year old with a punching back, and it follows that he can't play a game and enjoy it unless he is guaranteed victory. I tried to tech him to enjoy the process of playing- the tactics, the competition, the skill, but he couldn't understand, he thinks we play to win only. -_-

Other than that sports are great socially, physically and mentally, it is just so important not blur the boandries of terms like sport/game with terms like competition/win.

Dan

p.s Wizzy,

'isn't it a good thing to be competitive? To feel that you have to beat everybody els? Won't you apply yourself more and work harder at what ever it is you do?'

In my oppinion Wizzy no! This only applies to recreational games, once applied to life in general it is destructive and goes against my principles.
You should study to better yourself, work to support your family. These are the two 'parts' of life and in either if you apply competition your intentions are 'wrong'- im my oppinion >.>

[Khethil]

Originally Posted by philosopherqueen

Sports contribute to our competiveness and recreation, but is is worse than it is good? Do you believe that there are somethings children can do besides sports that could be better for them? Does the competiveness have a bad influence on children? Think about it: the overly competive parents and coaches. Does reading, writing, T.V., video games, or other activites have a better influence?

I think that competition has its positive and negative effects. Whether or not it is deemed 'good' would necessarily depend on ones' view of what is 'good', the type and intensity of competition and the price one pays for competition (stress, effort, training, extent of emotional involvement, etc.). The culture in which I live currently extols competition to nauseas levels; and while I'd agree that benefits can be realized from it, there is too a price to pay.

I'm not going to try and list all the negative permutations of a competitive lifestyle (they seem to be self-evident) except perhaps one - that the more any culture encourages or engages in competition, the more citizens of that culture come to view others a foes. In the worst of conditions, this leads us to chronic one-upmanship, outdoing the Jones - a state of mind/of viewing others of our species as potential adversaries.

I believe firmly that we've become too impersonal, too separated, too arms-length and judgmental. Symptoms of too much competitiveness? Well that'd depend on the trillions of variables of any given scenario, but it remains (at least to me) a likely contributor.