I want to start rejecting the notion that participation trophies are shorthand for everything wrong with our generation.
Kids should be encouraged to participate. Giving them awards for effort is the right way to teach a child to try new things. We don’t need to be competitive to be great, and the antagonism that comes from competition is an unhealthy attitude in our global economy.
There is no real “us” or “them.” If you have never done something before, and you try your best, you should get a pat on the back and parental encouragement. Especially if you suck. Nobody is born good at anything except crying and shitting. Teaching kids that they need to try to be the best is a great way to discourage the bottom 90% of kids from ever persevering when they aren’t immediately successful.
Participation trophies are good. They represent empathetic and informed parenting. The world is filled with people that will knock your kids down, and parents should be the foundation they can rely upon to prop them up. If the me-first boomer generation had gotten a few of them, we would be in a much better place as a species.
they bought us those participation trophies
I want to start rejecting the notion that participation trophies are shorthand for everything wrong with our generation.
Kids should be encouraged to participate. Giving them awards for effort is the right way to teach a child to try new things. We don’t need to be competitive to be great, and the antagonism that comes from competition is an unhealthy attitude in our global economy.
There is no real “us” or “them.” If you have never done something before, and you try your best, you should get a pat on the back and parental encouragement. Especially if you suck. Nobody is born good at anything except crying and shitting. Teaching kids that they need to try to be the best is a great way to discourage the bottom 90% of kids from ever persevering when they aren’t immediately successful.
Participation trophies are good. They represent empathetic and informed parenting. The world is filled with people that will knock your kids down, and parents should be the foundation they can rely upon to prop them up. If the me-first boomer generation had gotten a few of them, we would be in a much better place as a species.
I don’t agree with you, kids should be doing things just because they want to.
We should not just be encouraging them to participate, we should be encouraging them to do what they want.
Did you ever get any of them?
Even we thought they were stupid bullshit when they were giving them to us
This is one of the best counter arguments I have read. Kudos.