I Wanna Win! How To Teach Healthy Competition

7 snips

Dec 9, 2024

Join award-winning sports journalist Sam Weinman, author of "Win at Losing," as he shares insights on healthy competition for kids. He discusses strategies to help children cope with the emotional highs and lows of winning and losing. Sam emphasizes the importance of fostering a growth mindset, valuing effort over results. The conversation also highlights Kelsey Demers' family game night, where she teaches her seven children resilience and critical thinking. These practical tips benefit kids from toddlerhood through adulthood.

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ADVICE

Normalizing Losing

Normalize losing for children by explaining that everyone experiences it.
Remind them that there will be more opportunities to play and try again.

ADVICE

Validating Emotions

Validate children's feelings after a loss instead of dismissing them.
Allow them time to process their emotions before offering constructive advice.

INSIGHT

Losing vs. Failing

Losing is an outcome that can happen despite best efforts.
Failing, however, is tied to one's actions and provides valuable feedback for growth.

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Winning is a big deal to kids – whether it’s on the soccer field or racing their sibling to the car door. And with big competition comes big emotions. So how best to navigate when your child loses – or wins for that matter?

Sam Weinman, author of “Win at Losing: How Our Biggest Setbacks Can Lead to Our Greatest Gains” joins Lynn and Justin with practical, healthy strategies for parents to help their little ones deal with competition. Tools that we can all use from the toddler years into adulthood.

In our Parenting Story of the Day, we hear how Kelsey Demers, a mom of seven, uses family game night to teach her children bigger life lessons–resilience, critical thinking, and the value of spending real “facetime” around the family table.

You can also watch this podcast on YouTube and reach us at podcast@munchkin.com.

Sam Weinman / IG / FB / LinkedIn

Author Sam Weinman was inspired to pen “Win at Losing: How Our Biggest Setbacks Can Lead to Our Greatest Gains,” because his two sons both struggled with losing. Wanting to show them that losing has real benefits, he started on a journey to talk to people—famous and otherwise—about how they handled a notable loss, and what they learned from it.

Weinman is the digital editorial director at Golf Digest and also covered golf and the NHL for The Journal News in Westchester, N.Y. He wrote for numerous publications including USA Today, Golf World, Yahoo! Sports, ESPN the Magazine, and Sports Illustrated. He has been honored with multiple awards in the Associated Press Sports Editors and Golf Writers Association of America writing contests.

Kelsey Demers / IG / TikTok

Kelsey and Adam and their seven kids love to play board games! So much so they created the website TheTableTopFamily.com to help everyone find the perfect game to inspire their family to spend more quality time together. They believe that there is nothing more fun than spending an evening together laughing and connecting over the shared experience of playing a game.

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