Summary on the Children Need to Play - Essay Example

Summary and Strong Response Summary In the essay “Children Need to Play, Not Compete” the Jessica Statsky presented the argument that there is no reason to promote competition among children during their childhood. Her reasoning for this was that the past generations thrived on competition among children of the same or similar ages, with the parents paying too much attention to the result of the competition so that the game was no longer a fun activity for the kids. She believes that “all organized sports activities” could prove to be problematic for parents who are raising children.

Rather than fierce competition, she believes that children should instead be taught how to enjoy games as a part of exercise routines rather than a test of one's ability to out do his fellow child. Her whole essay is therefore based upon the premise that children need to have parents who are toned down and more receptive to the way that play time actually helps build a child's character and physical abilities rather than forcing a child into competition and concentrating on trying to improve his weak points when he has yet to develop those particular areas of his physical and mental development.

Response I have a tendency to agree with Ms. Statsky about the level of competition that adults place upon children who are supposed to simply be learning how to play well at their young ages. It is not necessary to inflict adult expectations on children who can barely hold a bat up or run in a straight line. By doing so, one will adversely affect a child's mental and physical development. It could even traumatize a child to see his parent flying off the handle at a little league game, causing him undue emotional stress that could show its repercussions in the development of the child as an adult.

Physical dangers exist for parents who insist that children compete in sports rather simply playing. Training a child too early in sports competencies could result in an altered physical upbringing of a child and cause early injuries which may or may not heal as the child matures into an adult. No child should be subject to uncertain aspects of development just to satisfy the thirst of an adult to see his child crush the perceived competition. The psychological dangers to a child who compete rather than play in organized sports also exists.

A child can emotionally cave in once his or her parents try to pressure him into delivering more than his young system can deliver in terms of competition. This is why it is important to simply allow the child to enjoy the sport as a game rather than a competition. There should not be any ramifications for a child who is unable to compete because losing at such an early age does not mean anything for the child. There are no sports scholarships to college to be lost at that point. No professional agents out there looking to draft the next big rookie.

Just parents wanting to have bragging rights to whose child beat whom. That is a scenario that is totally unfair to the child in question. Sports are supposed to help a child develop a sense of self-esteem. Parents and coaches who are obsessed with winning will fail to see the relevance of the sport being played in terms of how it helps the overall development of a child. Not to mention creating a sense of fear in children who are not highly aggressive and play a sport even though they fear being hurt because they do not want to disappoint their parents.

Although the competition theory has its value, I believe that children cannot be rushed into developing a competitive sense of play. They should instead be allowed to discover their strong and weak points during play time so that they will know their personal limitations when it comes to competition. That way, they will learn how to compete and win on their own, sans the parental pressure. The job of a child according to child psychology experts is to play. More importantly, they should play games that they enjoy.

Their passion for a sport should not be diminished by any physical shortcoming the child might have. Therefore the focus of a parent should be on helping his child enjoy a game instead of competing in a game.