If you child plays sport regularly you must be wanting them to learn some values of fair play, teamwork, and solidarity, in other words, to be 100% sportsmanlike.
When we ask children what’s their favourite part of playing with their friends or their favourite sport, they tell us that it’s being with their friends, enjoying and having a good time. If they win, even better, but it’s not overly important. We must convey the importance of sportsmanship, but especially healthy sportsmanship.
Sportsmanship is a very important value and we must help them learn how to win with humility, respect the other players and lose gracefully. As parents we must guide them, and to do so we have to set an example with our behaviour and attitude. Children are sponges and we are their role models. If they see a non-sportsmanlike attitude in us they will think it’s OK and copy us.
Sportsmanship is not only learned through athletics. Did you know that there are toys that help encourage it? Yes, all are related to sport, because it’s cool to play at sport 🙂
Do you have any other ideas to help encourage sportsmanship?