At a recent birthday party, I saw that my daughter was not endearing herself to her friends with her overly competitive ways. Not wanting to dampen her enthusiasm, I gently pulled her aside and asked her to look around the room.
"How many of these kids do you think are hoping to win this game?" I asked.
She slowly looked around and said, "All of them."
"Right," I said. "Do you think it’s sometimes OK to take turns winning?"
She nodded and ran off to rejoin the action. I smiled when I later heard her encouraging another child: "Don’t worry! It might be someone else’s turn to win!".
This article appeared in the March/April 2012 issue of Thriving Family magazine.
Copyright © 2012 by Jan May. Used by permission. ThrivingFamily.com.
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