Your child comes back from school and you ask how was school today and he goes… School was fine but Daniel scored 9/10 while I scored 8.5. I was so close to scoring the highest in the test. What would be your reaction or answer to your child? Would you cheer your child or ask if Daniel has two heads? Would you praise your child’s effort and encourage him to study harder or say words to make him feel worse? Here is the thing. Your response in this exact moment teaches your child whether his worth depends on beating Daniel or on being better than he was last week. Most of us without even realizing it have trained our children to measure themselves against everyone around them and come up short every single time. We have turned life into a race where someone else’s win automatically means their loss. Spoiler alert: Daniel having two heads would not actually help your child feel better about his 8.5.

This is where Running My Own Race by Abena Eyeson becomes essential reading. This inspiring story reminds young readers that everyone has their own pace path and purpose. It is not about competing with others. It is about finding your rhythm staying focused and finishing strong. The book does something revolutionary for teens and tweens who are drowning in social comparison. It gives them permission to stop measuring their progress against everyone else’s highlight reel and start celebrating their own growth. When children learn to compete with themselves rather than others they develop genuine confidence. They can be happy for Daniel and his 9/10 while still feeling proud of their own 8.5. Imagine that. Two people winning at the same time. Wild concept.

Here is what no one tells our children. They are not running the same race as everyone else. They never were. Daniel might be brilliant at math but maybe your child writes poetry that makes people cry. Your daughter might not be the fastest runner but perhaps she is the friend everyone calls when life gets hard. We spend so much time teaching our kids to keep up with everyone else that we forget to help them discover what makes them uniquely valuable. Running My Own Race teaches them that the only person they need to be better than is who they were yesterday. Not Daniel. Not the Instagram influencer with perfect grades. Not the neighbor’s kid who seems to excel at everything. Just themselves.

Perfect for building confidence resilience and self belief this book helps young readers understand that someone else’s success is not their failure. It shows them that life is not about crossing the finish line first but about finishing your own race strong. Because at the end of the day there is only one competitor that matters in your child’s life. The person they see in the mirror every morning. And that person deserves to be celebrated for their own progress not diminished because Daniel exists. Let your child run their own race. Trust me they will get much further when they stop looking sideways to see who is ahead.