How Participation Trophies Are Making Kids Soft

Don't expect too much debate over this. Good article.

http://www.mensjournal.com/adventur...on-trophies-are-making-our-kids-soft-20150725

 

It just seems like a confirmation bias article.

 

I got these as a kid. Never took em seriously. Never thought I had "won" anything. Would be surprised if most kids are dumb enough to think they won something.

I think the reason a lot of people grow up "soft" is because they don't know what hard work is. Life is just full of fun after fun after fun for most people until they graduate college. 50-75 years ago college was a lot tougher-practically a full time job. Only decidedly above average intelligence people went. Universities were for learning and knowledge not the "college experience." My grandfather and his brother alternated running a dairy farm and going to school to get through UT. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the current system-especially if you approach it the right way, but if you've spent the vast majority of your time having fun for 4-5 years, chances are the real world is gonna jolt you a bit.

 

It's parents more than trophies IMO

 

I remember getting a trophy in soccer one year when we lost all but one game, and one the next year when we won all but one game. They were the same size. I don't think anyone really cared about the trophies one way or the other. It was about winning each game. This article may overstate things.

 

I experienced and feel the same way, but maybe that's because we are natural winners who choose not to get caught up on the bullshit

 

I remember getting a trophy when I was 8 for playing. I also remember being mad we finished 4th and I made my only out of the year in extra innings in my last at bat. 27 years later and I still can picture the kid snagging the ball. And then me crying.

Trophies are the symptom of an underlying culture of self esteem and no winners/losers.

 

Exactly, they're a symptom but not the problem

 

Exactly.

 

I don't know that I believe there are natural winners.

 

I've hated losing as long as I remember. I don't know what that makes me, but I've always been like that.

 

It's the most noticeable symptom of the problem imo. The article implies through out parents are the underlying problem.

 

Maybe I don't understand what he means by "natural winner." Hating losing seems pretty common, but natural winners do not.

 

Sawft, imo. How ya doin'?

 

Natural winner was implying that we have made good off our gifts and don't suck.

 

Yep. Helicopter and lawn mower parents destroy kids.

I got trophy for every season of every team I ever played on. The 'every kid gets a trophy so every kid is a *****' arguement is kind of overrated.

 

There are people that will go to the ends of the earth to not lose. There are people that will work themselves to the edge of death.

Then there are people that shrug their shoulders and say screw it

 

Screw y'all and your elitist mentality; everyone deserves a trophy regardless of effort. Everyone could have trophies too if it were not for greedy corporations and older generations who take more than their fair share at the expense of younger generations. There are only so many trophies to go around and I am damn sick and tired of the haves taking all at the expense of the have nots. Another case of "Let them eat Cake"; you bastards.

 

Gauntlet thrown.

 

I agree with you. There are many children who cannot win trophies because they were born in disadvantages situation. They come from poor neighborhoods where sporting equipment is sub par. They come from homes without a father to teach them how to win trophies. It is impossible for them to excel in sports so everyone should get a trophy.

PS: it s impossible to anyone to retire without a trophy.