Teaching Sportsmanship

Our gas bill always comes with a newsletter about ways to save energy, and includes a few random articles  about life as well.  I may be a nerd but I read the whole GasLight News every time.  This month there was an article about competition. Basically, what it said is that you want to teach your kids that "winning isn't everything, trying to win is."  I reviewed this a teeny bit at family night last night before we played Scrabble deluxe.  X said he didn't care about winning but was SO glad he won in the end.  He is actually very competitive. When we get in the car, he is always saying, I got in the car first, mom! I'm the winner! (He also says, I got buckled third! That's okay because third is the winner this time! etc.) So you can see why sportsmanship and learning the art of losing gracefully is going to be an important one to start working on now.

I was such a poor loser as a child and I still get really competitive!  I used to get mad at my sister, Shelly, because she always got her bed made before me.  One day I yelled at her because of it and she was so shocked. She hadn't even know I was competing!  So there you have it, fierce competition runs in my blood. Now for tips on sportsmanship by my gas company...

Children's needs when learning a sport:
*To have fun
*To get some exercise / be physically fit.
*To be with old friends / meet new friends.
*To learn new skills.
*To learn how to accept losing as well as winning.

Stages of Competition:
*Age 4 - children like to cooperate.
*Ages 5 & 6 - children learn competition.
*Ages 7 & 8 - children compare their abilities with others'.
*Age 12 - children start to associate losing with personal failure. (probably why it's good to start early and let them know it's okay to lose, it's the trying-to-win part that's important)

Source: Child Centered Coaching by Dr. Stephen Bavolek: and Prevent Child Abuse Utah


P.S. I thought of a really fun way to play Chutes & Ladders!  Add animal crackers to lots of spaces and when you land on one with a cracker, you get to eat it.  MUCH more motivating to actually finish the game.  :)