Should You Let Your Kids Win in Board Games? A Psychological Glimpse
As children are very sensitive, you always need to be cautious with your actions when dealing with them. A simple act can affect kids’ psyche in various ways. Know about the child behavior from a psychological approach.
There’s a famous saying: “Happiness is seeing your kids happy.” You often make sacrifice without even a second thought just to see happy faces of your children — it becomes a million dollar moment for you. When it comes to games, you lose just to let your kids win, as it makes them happy; but have you ever thought is it at all beneficial for your kids in the long run? If you create a habit in them of winning easily, will they ever be able to handle defeat in life? What impact it will have in their inner psyche?
As board games are quite popular nowadays, families often spend time with kids playing them. With the fear of children crying after losing, you let them win in board games. In experts’ opinion, you should sometimes give your children a tough competition. If they lose let them lose. It will evoke a competitive spirit in them as well as a good sportsmanship. As per the report of The Wall Street Journal, psychologists say letting your kids win intentionally is a bad move for the growth of your children. However, with almost everything in life, there are parents who disagree with that
(https://fathergeek.com/zen-and-the-art-of-letting-your-kids-win-or-not/).
A brand new board game, ‘It’s A Squirrel’s Life,’ is going to be launched in market soon. This family-friendly tabletop game will take you on a journey to a tree squirrel’s world. The animal loving nature of an aerospace engineer, named Randy Hecht, inspired him to invent this game. This game will truly inculcate confidence and competitive spirit in your child as well as will improve their STEM skills.
Removing the importance of winning or losing at certain stages of a child’s adolescence can reap psychological rewards later. In the meantime, parents should always adopt the old saying “it’s not whether you win or lose; it’s all about having fun playing the game.” And this squirrel game goes beyond that. Not only that it’s a lot of fun, but also educational where you learn about squirrel behaviors. Children also have an opportunity to practice math and negotiation skills. You can find out more about the game here.
It seems all the new games out there allude to themes of high-tech combat, violence, annihilation of enemies, espionage, and world domination. This new squirrel game introduces a refreshing change that goes back to ‘All American’ basics of a favorite pastime.
When you play with kids, wining or losing is not a matter of concern — the joyful experience of playing together makes their day. The little ones don’t even know how to play against somebody. By taking turns and sharing, slowly let them know the rules and how to play the game. When your kids grasp the rule, they crave to win. This is the time you shape sportsmanship in them. Lose to them often and show you are still enjoying the game, waiting to play another round. In W.E.B. DuBois’s words, “Children learn more from what you are than what you teach.” Here, the catch is if you take your defeat gracefully, your child will also learn the same.
Sometimes when children lose, they struggle to cope with the feeling of losing. A possible solution is if you find the game to be too complex for kids to play, simplify it or replace the game with other ones. It’s an advice never try to escape the situation, as how to deal with defeat is a larger life lesson that your kids must learn. Don’t forget that losing builds one’s character. So, are you ready to give your kids the experience of playing together — whether they win, lose, or draw? The choice is on you.
