When Friendship Becomes a Competition: The Hidden Pressure Among Kids
My eldest child started Primary 1 this year. She’s naturally cheerful and friendly—the kind who’ll walk up to a stranger at the playground and ask, “Want to play with me?” One of her close friends is in the same class at school, the same group in student care, and even lives just a block away. On weekends, they’d play together with other kids from the neighborhood. Recently, I noticed something had changed. While fetching my daughter, I asked why her friend no longer took the same bus or came out at the usual time. She casually said: “We broke up. She said she doesn’t want to be friends anymore.” I asked her what happened. When she told me the full story, I was stunned by the reason. ⸻ 🎓 The Beginning of Competition At school, they have weekly English dictation tests. My daughter generally does well, often scoring full marks or just a few mistakes. But our family motto has always been: “Study hard, play harder.” After all, she’s only seven. One day at student care, they were prac...