First you have console the child, wait until she has calmed down and then ask what it is she loves most of all: gymnastics or the prizes and awards. If its prizes and awards, then you find a different – easier - activity for her; and if its gymnastics – why cry? She will always have the opportunity to continue competing, even if she didn’t win anything at all in the competition. The main thing is that she took part in it, because it’s only the chosen few who get to the competitions, while dozens and hundreds of others have to stay at home. There are always more competitors than prizewinners. The jury has to choose the best, and it’s perfectly normal for some to achieve more while others are NOT YET up to it.

Take every opportunity (using various examples from life) to show the child that in any profession and any activity there are victories and defeats. You have to deal with them the right way, which means, above all, looking for the causes within yourself: Did I do all I could? Did I get a bit lazy? Did I make some tiny slip? Did I perhaps listen too closely to all the praise and take it easy?

There are lots of exceptional people, including sportsmen, who achieved the very highest results in their sphere only after suffering a defeat and understanding the cause of that defeat. So defeat or failure is a reason not to cry, but to think things over. In actual fact, it’s another step forward.