“GOOD SPORTS”

Taranaki Daily News, 28 November 1934, Page 12

“GOOD SPORTS”

EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. VALUE OF PLAYING THE GAME. All normal children revel in out-door-pastimes. And if the youngsters are to enjoy sports to the full, we must teach them to be good sports—teach them, in fact, “to play the game.” Of course most children hate losing (even grown-ups cannot truthfully say they like it), so to lose cheerfully and courageously is admittedly one of the most difficult as well as one of the most important of life’s lessons. Because it is difficult, we must be tactful and patient with children, but we should not allow them to give vent to disappointment in tears and tantrums when they lose the game. Such lack of sportsmanship soon makes any child unpopular. Besides, the “bad loser ’ is doomed to endless humiliations all along the line. Therefore teach him that he cannot always win, but that he can always do his best; also that defeat, I>ko victory, must be met with a smile. Many parents deliberately “lose” games to their children, so that the little ones shall not be disappointed. It seems merely a harmless deception, but it is bad policy for the boy or girl who. soon will have to face the merciless judgment of school mates. Children do not quickly grow out of wrong habits Ot mind, They have to be helped out of them, coaxed out of them, or punished out of them sooner or later.

Better to explain that one person or one side must lose, and that he or rha cannot always be the winner. Point out, too, that to “be allowed to win” iS rather a slight than otherwise, and chat to accept defeat cheerfully is a victory over self. Young folk cannot be taught too early in life to follow the rules ev-h of the simplest game, to win without bragging, to lose without winning—in short, to “play the game and be good sports.”