Not Everyone Gets a Trophy
Last night, my two little boys finished their season of “Summer Soccer”. Both children made great improvements throughout the eight weeks of practices and games, and my older son, especially, was a bit sad that it was ending. However, I have to admit that I was glad to see the season come to a close only because it meant an end to the drama that developed on my older son’s team.
Although I was adamant that I was not able to coach because my younger son had his games at the same time, somehow, I received an email before the start of the season stating that I was to contact all of the players on my team. I gave in, and ended up coaching the team for the season. (I love to coach soccer so it wasn’t a difficult sell.)
With only two weeks left in the season, the “Team Parent” approached me and announced that she had ordered trophies and each family owed her ten dollars. This is a new league for me as a coach, so I went to the director and asked if this was the normal policy. As it turns out, there is no policy and each team does whatever they want.
Personally, our family does not believe that a child needs a trophy just because he participated in an activity. Acting upon that belief, we told our son that he would not be receiving a trophy even though most of the other kids would. (There was one other child whose family felt the same way we did.) We explained that his brother’s team was not getting trophies so it wouldn’t be fair. However, he could still eat the pizza at the party after the last game. His only concern was, “Will my brother get to eat pizza?”
Why is it that our society has deemed it necessary to award a child for every, little thing they do. Isn’t being able to participate award enough? What is so wrong with competition in order to earn a trophy? I feel that kids know when they have earned an award compared to an award that was given as a toy for showing up at an event. Is it so bad to let our children know and understand that not everyone gets a trophy?
Digg Delicious Favorites Blogmarks Magnolia Google Newsvine Reddit Technorati
Written by Laura on August 4, 2011
Not Found
Sorry, but you are looking for something that is not here.
