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The best teacher in life is experience. A child learns how to live their life by what happens to them when they are growing up. Because young children spend so much time with their parents, most of their significant memories will involve emotional situations and how their parents reacted. These situations can be joyful or they can be saddening, but the child will remember how to deal with them in the future.

When it comes to sports, everyone at one time or another we will experience both the ecstasy of a big win and the heartbreak of a tough loss. As a child these highs and lows never last long. By the time the next game comes around the triumph or failure of the previous challenge is forgotten. The only reason for these children to play is the appreciation of a friendly challenge. Unfortunately, this can't last forever.

As we grow older the joy of a big win or the sorrow of a tough loss seems to become more important. This is the age where parental support is vital. The example that parents set in this time period will stay with a child forever. If a child is taught that winning is everything they will believe it for the rest of their life. If they cannot deal with losing then it will only become more difficult as they grow older. Their is a fine line between parental support and encouraging a child to win at all costs. When that line is crossed then the competition of sport loses all benefit. Children are not being taught to work together or learning the value of hard work, they are being trained to believe that they are complete failures if they don't win.

People are a product of their upbringing. A person is what they believe they are or can be. Most of the time these beliefs are instilled by their parents. If a person believes that every loss in sport is a failure, the only failure is that person's parents for failing to teach their child the importance of friendly competition. These failures range from yelling at a disappointed child after a game, to starting a brawl at a pee wee hockey game. The example a parent sets is the path that is laid before their impressionable young child. While it is up to the child wether or not they choose to follow this path, it is a lot easier to follow the path of familiarity than to blaze a trail into the unknown. However, if parents pave this path with honesty, integrity, and a sense of good sportsmanship, then it will lead to pure enjoyment of sport for not only their child, but for everyone who shares the field, court, or rink with them.

Learn more about this author, Brandon Rosenburg.
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