Ratih Maria Dhewi

Nowadays, some people think that a sense of competition in children should be encouraged. Others believe that children who are taught to cooperate rather than to compete become more useful adults. These views have beneficial and unbeneficial sides.

Parents should realize that to lead their children to be active in competitiveness make them more ambitious in two things. Those are performances in academic and career paths. The children will always try their best to be excellent in many ways. They tend to be creative, hard working and force themselves until the task is completed. They seem to always be perfectionist unless the environment does not support them. On the other hand, these children have their own idealism leading them to work individually and being selfish. They do everything even if it seems irrational to reach their ambitions.

Unlike competitiveness, cooperating seems better. Children who are shaped to cooperate tend to be good organizers. They are good players in teamwork and try their best to overcome their weaknesses by collaborating. They act more tolerantly to their peers. They are sure to reach goals as a good team work.

To sum up, parents have to be wise to know the capacity of their children, then encouraging them to be whatever they want to be. Parents are suggested not to push their ambitions to come true through their children. A better thing to do is to lead the children to be more beneficial for their surroundings by thinking as a good team worker.

Written by: Ahli SDM Indonesia

Tags: better education, competition, cooperation, good team worker, useful adults