Competition- The New Bad Word!!

Competition- The New Bad Word!

Imagine a factory producing made to order kids with same IQ, same behaviour traits, highly competent and absolutely flawless. We all parents want this factory to be a part of our lives knowingly or unknowingly.

Being the number one has not only become a showpiece of one’s academic excellence but a matter of prestige, a status symbol.

Competition as we know it in today’s world is not between two people to hone their skills and play fairly to come up with a winner but competition is now a symbolic yet very subtle form of ego clashing and getting one up on each other.

Parents want the kids to excel in everything- maths, science, sports, creative genres, etc. There is nothing like the second best.  It’s either first or nothing. So much pressure creates a nuisance not only in terms of complex psychological issues but also leading to more rise of anti social behaviour in kids and also the suicide rates.

Exams are no longer testing the ability to reason logically but are more for testing the repetition of text-bookish knowledge. It’s like a do-or-die situation. Such young minds and so many burdens of expectations; absolutely unfair!!!!

Kids only know gadgets or tools for learning, playing outside and learning in natural surroundings is a lost art. Competition is imbibed even in the  educational system- all the awards for best student of the year, monthly awards for hygiene, creative arts, etc is creating  an unhealthy atmosphere of hostility.

Let kids be kids. If they do something good, appreciate but don’t make it a national agenda or tabloid news. You need to teach tolerance. You win some, you lose some. Winning is not the only goal of life, learning and survival skills is too. Compete to enhance your strengths and polish your drawbacks, not to belittle each other.

Teach team work. Let the kids play group and individual games. Be an encourager not a hardened taskmaster.

Let them grow at their own pace and appreciate each other’s success. Winning is a team effort not a one man/ woman show.

Compete to help each other overcome fears not to plunge down into showcasing only talented individual work. If the team works then the dream works. So make competition a stepping stone to success and not the ultimate goal of proving the other wrong or lower.

Every butterfly has its unique colours, shapes of wing and its own flight; Let it fly its own chartered path at its own pace and touch the glorious skies that it’s destined to. See all of them shine brightly with their wings spread out in their own place in the big, wide world.

So are you going to compete with yourself to be a better version of you every day or compare yourself to others?