Featured NFL Star Discovered His Kids Had Been Given Participation Trophies. He returns them.

If you won the Super Bowl, you are the winner. Second place is second place.

 

You went there:laugh:

 

You believe it dumbs down achievement. You also believe Tim Tebow is a good quarterback so your opinions on sports are somewhat questionable there Ditka. There has been constant handwringing about this kind of stuff but my experiences growing up is that kids with these types of parents usually end up hating the sport they are playing in the process. The natural drive to compete and succeed will usually manifest itself at an individual level around the high school timeframe.

I played high school baseball on a team that challenged for state championships for three years. My parents never pushed me or badgered me about baseball. It was just something I did and enjoyed my own. My dad would do whatever I asked him to do to help me whether it be batting cages or simply throwing in the back yard. He gladly did all these things but never needled me with advice and told me what I should have done differently in games. My parents were always there to watch and encourage me. My drive to earn my spot on the team and start was my own. No little league trophy or award I received when I was ten years old made me feel entitled or deserving of success. That line of thinking is ridiculous in every way.

I once had a teammate when I was 10 years old that was by far the best player on the team. His father made him take his jersey off and go sit in the car after a game saying he didn't deserve to wear it. He was the best player on the team and he never played in any type of league ever again. Let your kids have fun when playing sports. Encourage them to take it seriously on the field and pay attention to coaches. Kids should be enjoying themselves while learning the fundamentals during these formative years. If they sincerely like the sport, the drive to excel will manifest itself. It cannot be manufactured through overinvolved parents.

 

I applaud him. His kids are better off for it.

 

Here's the program:

http://www.batchfoundation.org/sportsrecreation/

Huh? Harrison is a professional athlete and his fornication partner/babymomma is a prominent Pittsburgh attorney. Just what "economic reasons" have kept their kids from doing Track?

 

Stop being so cynical. The program is NOT JUST for those with economic challenges.

 

I say good on him. My husband and and I have already decided that when we have kids they will not be getting participation trophies. That is something you earn by placing high enough. Just showing up is not enough.

I remember when my elementary school made the switch of having places for field day to just a general participation certificate, with every one getting a blue ribbon. Even in the second grade I thought it was pointless to not keep track of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd and the participation blue ribbon meant nothing to me. But the ribbons that I had gotten in 1st grade for placing did mean something and I kept them for quite a while.

All one has to do is look at my generation to see the problem with getting a trophy for nothing. We have an entire generation that thinks they are owed a 6 figure job just by showing up, no working for it.

 

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Oh. Then yeah, it totally works.

 

Look at the Occupy and Black Lives Matter crowds surely bears this out.

 

Very true. They have been handed things their entire life and then they reached adulthood, and people stopped giving participation trophies, and they don't know how to deal with it.

 

I gave out league provided medallions for participation AND my own awards based on performance.

NEWSFLASH: The kids know the participation trophies are bogus. They aren't considered "real" trophies by the kids.

 

If only a lousy participation trophy could have such a far reaching effect on kids, all the way into adulthood. The kids know these trophies are fluff.

 

If kids know they are fluff then why support giving them out?

 

Kids know theyre fluff ?

I don't believe that, at all. Most kids believe what you tell them. But if it is true, why the uproar ?

 

Because unlike almost everyone else on this thread giving their opinion on this subject I have first hand experience with it.

 

Already asked and answered.