the way I see it

This past Sunday I went to watch Jenny compete in her cheer competition at the Pete. I saw something at the competition that really discouraged me. It's something I've noticed for a while now.

It wasn't the six year old girl who knew how to do the wobble that discouraged me.

Instead it was the fact that in this generation we're not teaching kids how to fail. We are encouraging a generation of mediocre medal winners.

What I mean is this: Kids these days (myself included to some extent) are never taught how to cope with losing or disappointment. I watched 6 teams compete in a specific cheer category and each team won a trophy. They announced the 3 last place teams like this, "In no particular order our finalists include..." Finalists? Really? We're going to call these teams finalists when they didn't have to qualify for the competition?

I think that's bullshit.

I understand these girls want to get a trophy, but let's call it for what it is. These parents are paying for their kids to enter competitions and be given a trophy. Paying $100 each for a trophy isn't a very good deal in my opinion.

Also, in my opinion, we aren't being fair to these kids by giving them all trophies and not telling them where they actually finished.

A competition is supposed to be competitive, which this competition was. If you aren't better than your competitors you should be told that outright. Sure you can look at a score sheet and see your score was lower, but nothing got me more motivated than hearing straight up that someone did better than me.

We're raising a generation of kids who don't know what failure is. Maybe that comes along with not telling kids "no" enough as they grow up.

Disappointment and failure are an inevitable part of life.

Life isn't about never being disappointed or never failing. Life is about coping with failure and being okay with disappointment.

I want kids to have trophies.

But I want them to earn them for winning, not for being a "finalist."

NP: Dirty Little Secret- The All-American Rejects