A 5-year-old's question: Why do I have to come in first in a race?

I have 5-year-old boy-girl twins. They throw unexpected questions at me every day, so I'm quite desperate as a mother. But... when I think that in a few years they might not even ask such questions anymore, I decide to face them head-on while they are still willing to engage with me, and I look for the answers to their questions together with them.

Here is today's question.

Why do I have to come in first in a race?

They started attending nursery school at age 3, and this is their third year, so this year is finally their last sports day of nursery school life.

My son, who started practicing for the race for the sports day, asked me, 'I came in first in the race today. But, why do I have to come in first?'

Since I wasn't good at sports when I was a child, I didn't intend to tell my twins that they 'have to come in first,' but I realized that I must have instilled that in them before I knew it, and at the same time, I remembered a passage that stayed with me from a book I read recently.

This passage appears in Mitsumasa Anno's 'Thinking Children'.

'A child should not be arrogant if they come in first, nor should they cry if they come in last. The world is built so that everything is a competition. You are not running to come in first right now, but running for the day when you become an adult, so that you can have the pride of not being arrogant if you come in first, and not being discouraged if you come in last.'

Citation: Mitsumasa Anno, 'Thinking Children', first edition June 15, 2018 (p44)

When I broke it down and explained it to my 5-year-old, he seemed to be convinced.

I hope that at the sports day, whether they come in first or last, they will run for the day they eventually become adults.