Obvious as that might appear, as proud and ambitious parents, we often push our children to excel in ways that may help them achieve some early successes- but may sap their stamina to endure the more difficult challenges which life may throw at them. What is more, our obsessive rush to get our children off to a good start overlooks at the fact that in life, as in a marathon, an early lead hardly matters, but being too intent on coming first may leave our children lacking in many of the life skills that a normal childhood would teach them.