Hypersensitivity...

[wendybeth]

I have a good friend who was raising her three kids in much the manner and philosophy that Traci is. It hasn't worked out as well as she thought. I'm not saying it won't for Traci- truth be told, it's very early in the game for her and her family. There are, as with any sort of parenting philosophy, so many variables that could upset the apple cart. I don't even pretend to have a plan, other than teaching my kid to treat people as she'd like to be treated, realise that everyone has strengths and weaknesses and just because one is better at something does not mean that they are superior beings. We engage in mild forms of competition, such as video or board games, but don't really play any sports except dance, which is not at all competitive at this point.

I despise overenthused sports parents but if they want to mess up their own kids so be it. I also don't think completely nixing competition is a good idea- just how the hell are the kids going to function in the real world? It's naive to expect the entire human race to just stop doing something so basic to our nature. Learning to temper it is fine, but isn't that what most people do as they grow? Anyway, I think all this non-competition stuff with kids older than pre-school age is asinine.