- Joined
- Jun 23, 2014
- Messages
- 13,404
- Reaction score
- 7,389
- Location
- New Mexico
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Slightly Conservative
Life isn't always fair.
You can work your hardest, try your best, expend every ounce of energy you have and sometimes things just don't work out the way you hoped or imagined. That's just the way things go.
Yet somewhere along the way, someone had the misguided notion that kids should live in a la-la land where everything is perfect, there are no hardships or heartbreaks, and you get a shiny trophy or a pretty blue ribbon just for being you.
There's time enough to get acquainted with reality, the thinking goes. In the meantime, children should be praised and encouraged, reminded at every turn how wonderful they are.
No wonder study after study has shown that millennials, the first of the trophy generations, are stressed out and depressed. They were sold a bill of goods when they were kids, and discovering that the harsh realities of life apply to them, too, had to have been like a punch to the gut.
Armour: James Harrison is right, you shouldn't get a prize for showing up
getting a trophy for just showing up.....good or bad?
i understand why it started.....and up to the age of 7, maybe 8 i may even agree.
But once you hit 8 or older, excellence needs to be rewarded.....not the effort. We should want our kids to be superstars.....but not all will be. Maybe they are too short, too slow, or too uncoordinated. And they will not excel in every sport....no matter how much they like it, or practice.
I would think that we want to give our kids life lessons.....how to win gracefully....how to lose gracefully.....how to be a good teammate.....
How to play fairly, and yes....HOW TO WIN
Should winning be the only thing that matters? hell no
But giving a 12 year old a medal that says they competed....and their team never won a game that year cheapens that trophy when they finally win one.
You can work your hardest, try your best, expend every ounce of energy you have and sometimes things just don't work out the way you hoped or imagined. That's just the way things go.
Yet somewhere along the way, someone had the misguided notion that kids should live in a la-la land where everything is perfect, there are no hardships or heartbreaks, and you get a shiny trophy or a pretty blue ribbon just for being you.
There's time enough to get acquainted with reality, the thinking goes. In the meantime, children should be praised and encouraged, reminded at every turn how wonderful they are.
No wonder study after study has shown that millennials, the first of the trophy generations, are stressed out and depressed. They were sold a bill of goods when they were kids, and discovering that the harsh realities of life apply to them, too, had to have been like a punch to the gut.
Armour: James Harrison is right, you shouldn't get a prize for showing up
getting a trophy for just showing up.....good or bad?
i understand why it started.....and up to the age of 7, maybe 8 i may even agree.
But once you hit 8 or older, excellence needs to be rewarded.....not the effort. We should want our kids to be superstars.....but not all will be. Maybe they are too short, too slow, or too uncoordinated. And they will not excel in every sport....no matter how much they like it, or practice.
I would think that we want to give our kids life lessons.....how to win gracefully....how to lose gracefully.....how to be a good teammate.....
How to play fairly, and yes....HOW TO WIN
Should winning be the only thing that matters? hell no
But giving a 12 year old a medal that says they competed....and their team never won a game that year cheapens that trophy when they finally win one.