How to help your child deal with losing

eregister your child can help in sports keep them active, teach them to work in teams, build their confidence.However sports too It has the effect of dividing the participants into winners and losers. It can evoke quite a few shocking emotions in a child. to help your child To manage the big emotions that arise after losing a tough game, “We want to prepare children to lose by giving them a healthy philosophy about winning.Anything that doesn’t depend on the score at the end of the game.” Frank SmallSports Psychologist and Collaborator Enrichment of youth sports A project that provides evidence-based strategies for effective coaching.

Part of helping your child deal with losing is teaching them, “You can succeed.” regardless of the score at the end of the game if you do your best And you did the best you could,” Smoll said. “What more could you ask for from an athlete of any level?”

Don’t sugarcoat your losses

When your child has just lost a game, your urge may immediately try to help them feel better about what happened. Comforting them will help in the long run but, When the scars from loss are still fresh, it’sIt is important to respect their feelings. “this do It hurts to lose,” Small said. “You don’t want to sugarcoat it.”

Depending on your child’s personality, you may have different ways of coping with the direct effects of the loss. Some children want to be comforted, others want to be left alone. Some people want to jump straight into post-match analysis, while others want to refrain from talking about the match.

stop, look, listen

when you were a child If you’ve just lost a game and want to help deal with that loss, Smoll recommends a “stop-watch-listen” strategy. “I want to stop focusing on whether my team won or lost. The game is over,” Small said. “Look for signs that indicate how your children are feeling.” or Involves looking at facial expressions and body language To understand how they feelreprocessAnd he said, “Listen to them. before you rule. Let them express themselves,” said Small. “Give them a voice And then ask some detailed questions. “

Focus on achievements and lessons learned

Given the opportunity to assess how your child is coping with the loss, Winning or losing the game can be a good time to focus on aspects of the game. what is like they did well Show good sportsmanship, show tenacity, or try a new skill you’ve been working on.

“It’s learning and growing,” said Patrick Cohn, mental performance coach. peak performance sports“It’s also about teamwork, cooperation, confidence, and learning how to act under pressure.”

It’s also a time to talk about what we’ve learned from our losses and what we’re planning for our next match. “Losing helps you figure out where you stand in terms of skill,” he says Smoll. “You can learn a lot from winning and you can learn a lot from losing, if you are prepared.”