Getting through By cgreen

When my rabbi's wife was a little girl in Germany in the thirties, her father felt she was too competitive, and worried too much about schoolwork. They made a deal that for each equivalent of a 'B' she got, he would give her ten shillings. An 'A' meant she was working too hard and should have some more fun with her friends. (Of course, I imagine you still needed to work pretty hard for a B in the 1930s in Europe.)

I can't imagine a parent doing something like that today, and I think it's sad. For one thing, no one succeeds at everything all the time. If you learn that's okay, you will be far more able to deal with your failures when they happen.

I don't know what I would suggest. Could the next unit of their PE be focused on noncompetitive activities, for example? I also wonder if there are any books that emphasize winning some and losing some that they might like.