You Lose!
Interesting article about the whole not keeping score in youth sports phenomenon. http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2010/08/22/what_happened_to_losing/?page=2
For the record, the part of the article that I agree with the most is that children are put into organized sports with coaches and referees at too young an age. The best way to learn fair play, dealing with winning and losing, and general social skills is via informal games that the children themselves organize and referee without any adult supervision. No one wants to play with a kid who is always cheating, not following the rules of the game, freaking out when they lose, or acting like a complete asshole when they win. Having adults always organizing and intervening in games does not allow the children to build those skills themselves. Regarding not keeping score, that is just an insult to the child's intelligence. I work with 5 year olds and pretty much all of them know how to count and which numbers are bigger. Hell, one of the ways I observe whether or not a child knows how to count in the proper order/the concept of more than/less than is to watch them shooting the ball into our 6 foot basketball hoop on the play deck because pretty much all the children count and compare how many baskets they have made
now for a shameless plug: I actually wrote a poem about this topic in my children's poetry book:
They say, we don't keep score
But I know I scored four
They say, it does not matter who wins
But I knocked down the most pins-
They say, it is not really a race
But I came in first place
They say no kid is the smartest in class
But I am the only one who can pass.
Now for a special bonus, DJ Khaled's video for "All I Do Is Win" featuring a great verse from Nicki Minaj
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