Should we protect children from losing?

Should children be able to play sports? Sports have winners and losers, and losing can result in hurt feelings. Is this really what we want for these kids?


I have touched on this subject before. There are a lot of liberals that like to think of themselves as enlightened. To show how enlightened they are, they fight for certain causes before they understand them. Their perspective on sports can be tied to emotional abuse. Negative emotions can be unhealthy. That doesn't mean that negative emotions are necessarily bad or that we need to protect children from emotions.

How many people will ever live their lives without playing games? None. Winning and losing is a part of life. People play anyway primarily because they get more enjoyment than harm out of games. Sheltering children from games is effectively sheltering them from life and diminishing their ability to cope with inevitable loss and failure.

Sheltering children from emotions would be like living your entire life on a couch out of fear that physical activity can result in injury. Yes, physical activity comes with physical risks. Those risks, however, are healthier than living a physically inactive lifestyle. In sports, the physical value typically outweighs the risk. The same could be said, but to a lesser extent, about emotions. It's possible to be upset about game results, but emotions are a part of life. It's unhealthy to hide from emotions.

Protecting children from losing is an absurd concept. Many schools have tried to push against sports purely for the sake of eliminating the possibility of losing. I absolutely don't support these policies. Kids should be allowed to play games with winners and losers. Oddly enough, teachers seem to only apply these concerns to sports. I have yet to hear any teacher discourage children from learning chess, a board game with winners and losers.