CHILDREN

The tasks set for children should be moderate.  Over-exertion is hurtful both physically and intellectually, and even morally.  But it is of the utmost importance that they should be made to fulfil their tasks correctly and punctually.  This will train them for an exact and conscientious discharge of their duties in after life. - Hare   

Educators should constantly emphasise the process  - the hard work, the effort, the enjoyment of the journey, the importance of failures as learning opportunities - rather than the raw achievement and the outcome. Telling children how smart they are leads to a short-term high (for the child, as well as for the parent or teacher!), while in the long term it hurts the child's motivation, performance and well-being.  Parents and teachers should constantly be asking children what they learned - from others, from books, from their own mistakes and successes - and in what ways they have improved , and not what prizes and grades they received what the competition was like.

Children also have to understand that they don't have to be the best in everything and that just having fun is a legitimate reason for doing something.  At the same time, if they do want to excel, then effort is necessary - which does not preclude the possibility of having fun all the way.