General George Patton often declared in his speeches to troops during World War II, “When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big league ball players, the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time.” Now, if [...]
Whenever children participate in activities, including unsupervised play or organized non-competitive activities, they acquire skills through socialization. This is also true of participation in organized activities which do not have an explicitly competitive element, as I have argued before. But many activities that were previously non-competitive have been transformed from environments that only emphasized learning [...]
I love a good Sunday brunch buffet. I often sample lots of dishes, and then go back to get a larger serving of my favorite. When people ask me about afterschool activities for their elementary school-age kids– how many they should be in, which activity will help them get into college someday, etc.– I explain [...]
Many children today are being raised to play to win (hence the title of this blog). What does this mean? Kids are taught, from a young age, skills that will help them compete and achieve in their adult lives. These (largely upper-middle class and middle class American) children are molded, both inside and outside the [...]
