Children Need to Play, Not Compete by Jessica Statsky - Essay Example

Children Need to Play, Not Compete by Jessica StatskyNowadays organized sports and competitions are very common among children. Jessica Statsky in her essay “Children Need to Play, Not Compete”, disapproves of the culture of organized sports and warns parents against it. According to her, organized sports promote competition and may lure children towards physical violence which makes a negative impact on their minds. Children are also harmed psychologically because they start to care more about the expectations from the coach and their parents and less about the enjoyment from the game itself.

Also since the procedure of players’ selection is highly selective, the unsuccessful children start dreading failure and their self-confidence decreases. She concludes that such competition in sports negatively influences a child’s self esteem (Statsky).I strongly agree to what Jessica Statsky has written in her essay. Children nowadays are being encouraged to play for winning rather than for keeping them physically active. I have seen a lot of children in my neighborhood who have started to prefer computer games over physical sports because they fear being criticized by their parents for not getting selected in the School team.

This is having a harmful influence on children and they may not be able to develop themselves according to their full potential. Parents have an important role to play in the betterment of their child’s development. They should encourage their child to play with their friends in local grounds and should not put stress on them to play at a competitive level so that children start benefitting from the enjoyable experience of sports. Works CitedStatsky, Jessica. "Children Need to Play, Not Compete." Print.