Parenting Guide: 3 Ways To Manage Competitiveness In Children

Although there is nothing wrong with healthy competition, there is a risk that kids subject themselves to too much pressure chasing their parents' acknowledgments. The damage that results from being over competitive is not just done to your child's personality and character but also extends into how he looks as things in his life and how his attitude towards friends and family become. Parenting workshop experts agree that potential negative ramifications outweigh the positive but with proper parenting guidelines, the competitiveness can be managed in your kid.

Here are some of the recommended tips that childcare experts recommend parents utilize:

Children become misguided.

Instead of seek knowledge and skills, children who are exposed to a "stick and carrot" type of reward and punishment system by their parents become deluded and care only for the result. In that quest, they lose out on the spirit of competition and may become a teenager that results in any means possible, whether right or wrong, to achieve goals.

Children can get easily frustrated.

If kids focus too much on results instead of the process of competing, they become perfectionists in a negative sense. Kids become easily disturbed by failures and become unhappy, rather than to learn from the lessons in failing. Self-doubt and blame sets in, creating an unhealthy mindset. Ultimately, this affects a child's image of himself and self-worth.

One of the parenting solutions is to constantly monitor your child's reaction towards failure and assure him or her that failure is not the end of the world.

Children become fearful.

This fear of failure also translates itself into children's unwillingness to take risks, to explore, or to try something new, thus stunting their development. With parenting skill, parents can easily administer appropriate parenting solutions.

Another fear faced by children who are extremely competitive or who have been expected to be the best in whatever they do is the fear of punishment. No one likes to be punished and kids especially place a lot of importance in their parent's pleasure or displeasure towards their actions. They have a tendency to keep quiet and not ask questions when faced with a problem, thinking that there is no one else to help them. Kids will be afraid of failure and would rather not try to attempt new challenges for fear that they would not be able to be the best at it.