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Many adults believe that children have the most stress-free lives, but the reality is quite the opposite. Today, kids are as stressed as adults because they’re always competing on multiple parameters. The need to excel academically, stay at the top of extracurricular activities, maintain a healthy social life, and meet parental expectations has put children in a pressure-cooker environment; an environment where kids are always competing against something or someone to prove their worth.

While healthy competition is quite necessary for growth, excessive competition can lead to anxiety, exhaustion, self-doubt, and even depression in some cases. At Delhi Public School Sushant Lok, positioned among the best CBSE schools in Gurgaon, we believe the solution to this isn’t eliminating competition completely, but teaching children to transform competition into positive collaboration. This simple shift can lift unnecessary pressure off young minds while helping them grow without worrying about the rising competition.

In this blog post today, we are sharing actionable ways in which parents can turn competition into collaboration for their children. Ensure you read the full post.

4 Ways to Turn Competition into Collaboration

Parents can help their kids convert competition into collaboration by implementing the following tips:

• Use more collaborative language at home

Remember, the words you use as a parent work to shape how your children view success. So, avoid asking questions like ‘Did you do better than your classmates today?’ the moment they return from school. If your children discuss a group project, have conversations that emphasise how each team member contributed uniquely, rather than focusing on who contributed the most.

Simple changes like these can shift your child’s focus from beating others to learning together, encouraging them to participate more in collaborative activities. It will help them strengthen their confidence, social-economic skills, and thinking abilities, which will eventually contribute to their bright future.

• Create learning opportunities that mix different abilities

One of the easiest ways to replace competition with collaboration is to organise activities where children of different ages and skill levels work together. For instance, if your elder child is a math whiz but struggles with creative writing, while your younger child spins fantastic stories but freezes at fractions, then pair them both for a learning activity.

Let the elder child tutor the younger one in math while the younger one shares their storytelling secrets with the elder child. This approach enables everyone to make significant progress as they learn from one another, rather than competing against each other. It also boosts children’s self-confidence, self-esteem, and collaboration skills.

• Set up team goals where everyone has a role

This tip is somewhat similar to the above point, but it requires organising team activities with more people, ideally four or more. It also has a different benefit from the above tip. For this method, parents should encourage their kids to form a study group where each child has a clear role.

For example, one can manage the schedule, while the other tracks progress for everyone. Others can take on roles, such as drafting practice questions and compiling review materials. However, the celebration only comes when all members hit their personal improvement targets, not when someone scores the highest.

Activities like these teach children that individual excellence strengthens the entire team rather than threatening others’ success. Children also learn accountability while experiencing the joy of collective achievement. It builds character, social-emotional skills, and more responsible decision-making.

• Redesign competitive activities as cooperative challenges

We at Delhi Public School Sushant Lok firmly believe that students can more willingly choose collaboration over excessive competitiveness if they’re given enough opportunities. Hence, it is necessary to make them participate in cooperative activities. Think about activities, such as group puzzles, collaborative art projects, team cooking, or any project where everyone’s participation matters.

As a parent, you can conduct group challenges, where children don’t compete to secure the first position, but instead form teams with the goal of achieving high scores as a team. Similarly, parents can also plan a competition where teams work together to solve complex problems within a time limit. These activities consistently deliver the best results because they increase motivation and engagement while fostering self-efficacy and kindness towards others.

Conclusion

Many may believe that encouraging children to choose collaboration over competition can end their personal drive for excellence. However, it rarely happens. You will notice that collaborative activities will instead redirect your kid’s drive toward something healthier and more sustainable.

We at Delhi Public School Sushant Lok, one of the top school in Gurgaon, have observed that students who regularly participate in collaborative learning opportunities, rather than trying to outdo others, develop a healthy competitive spirit. Hence, if you are a parent who wants your kids to thrive academically, socially, and professionally, you must encourage them to actively choose collaboration over competitiveness.

You can pick any method shared in this blog post and implement it consistently. If your kids get bored easily, then choose any two methods and plan them on alternate days to keep them engaged and interested in these activities. You’ll be surprised at how they improve your kid’s academic performance while reducing their anxiousness and stress.