I have a little niece, she's 4, and we get along great. One of her favorite games is, "Come and get me!"
That's the game where we're walking along, and she'll yell, "Come and get me!" as she takes off running. Of course, she's only 4, so even a clumsy, awkward runner like me can catch her, but she gets away half the time. I hafta admit, it's a lot of fun chasing her, but even more fun watching her run. She holds her hands up, takes as large a stride as she can, and tries to go fast! Sometimes, she even does go fast.
I don't say that to knock her. Toddlers need to learn everything, even competition, and if they're learning competition, then it should be friendly competition. We need to teach them how to run, and how to compete, and how to want to win, without teaching them to sacrifice everything to set a record, beat an opponent, or win a race. Kids need to learn that competition is fun before they can learn that competition is serious.
And so, I chase my little niece. Sometimes, I let her win, and sometimes, I pretend that she smoked me. Either way, she giggles until she's out of breath, and says, "Let's race again!"
