When I was a child, I was a loser. Well not always, sometimes I was a winner but not as often as being a loser. I guess when 10 people run a race, only one can win, so that leaves 9 losers – seems I was in good company. Strangely though since then winners and losers has become something that is frowned upon. It’s all about getting in there and having a go. We don’t care who wins, we are all winners in the end. What a lovely sentiment! Or not.
Maybe I’m old fashioned, or maybe it’s my competitive spirit driving me, but I say lets bring back competition! Strangely I don’t look back on my childhood and think, ‘wow that is so sad all those times I missed out on being the 1 out of 10 that got a prize in pass the parcel’. I think about how cool it was when I was the winner, when I won fair and square! Modern kids will look back and think, ‘wow wasn’t that cool how we all got a pass the parcel prize, how fun that even though I wasn’t the fastest we all got medals and how nice that we never scored in sport so we never knew if we were good or not’. Doesn’t sound so exciting to me but someone clearly thinks it is. And that someone is driving all of society it seems.
I will never forget my parents telling me that when they asked my school teacher what’s something they can teach their kids at home that would be useful. His answer “Teach them how to lose!” Hallelujah!
I would say he was right on. He knew that learning how to lose was going to be far more beneficial from being spared that pain. And interestingly enough I can see many lessons learnt from losing. Losing the netball grand final to my sisters team wasn’t fun but I learnt that it wasn’t the end of the world, it was still a fun game and my parents didn’t think less of me because of it. What I remember more though was the excitement approaching the game, the nerves about the outcome and that tense feeling as you play, trying desperately to win. To lose wasn’t great but it was an exciting journey to get there and I also learnt if you are the loser then there is always a winner that you can feel excitement rather than resentment toward.
Now as an adult I am so grateful for the lessons I learnt about losing. I didn’t get the first job I applied for but I kept looking, rejection after rejection I worked harder until i got one. I didn’t get a baby when I wanted one, but failure after failure we endured, losing for many years until finally a win. And you know what, a win after so many losses is so much sweeter.
Written By School Mum – Kristin Harmer
Hi I’m Kristin Harmer, I have a lovely husband Sam, 3 kids (Lily 8, Winter 2 and Beau 10weeks), and am a stay at home mum. I hate to cook and clean, but strangely I am blessed with a love of being a stay at home mum. I love to dance, sing (although I am not good at this), and am very involved with a local church. I am too opinionated for my own good and as you can imagine, facebook makes this very apparent! I value relationships very much and love my house to be full of fun.
