Today, children get awarded for almost everything from scoring the game winning goal to just being on the team. Whether or not to give kids participation rewards is the center of this argument and an ages old question many of us have and will face. There are some valuable pros and cons on this topic and this essay will cover the most important of them. Even though providing these participation trophies to kids is believed to boost their self esteem they often provide unrealistic standards and insufficiently prepare kids for the real world as well as not help to distinguish excellence in all aspects of life. Building children’s confidence when they are young is beneficial in order for them to be confident about themselves in the future. Giving out …show more content…
This means there is no reason to outwork the next individual to receive an award. So, why should both kids get rewarded? Eventually, children reach an age where they understand that receiving participation awards is not the same thing as winning. In the New York Times article “Participation Trophies Send a Dangerous Message,” Betty Barden, a student-athlete states, “I believe that we should change how we reward children. Trophies should be given out for first, second and third [place]; participation should be recognized, but celebrated with words and a pat on the back rather than a trophy.” The child that worked the hardest and achieved the most should be awarded. These participation awards are showing children that they do not have to perform to their full potential to be rewarded. One would not want their child thinking that they can put partial effort into things or do them the wrong way and be rewarded. If this is the standard that is set then these children will not have the mindset to win because they know that everyone will be rewarded no matter what, so why should they even
Some people may argue that if everyone gets a trophy, everyone will be happy. That might be an understandable concern, however, according to people on blog.sportssignup.com, “By acknowledging everyone with the same award we’re actually celebrating no one and even undermining the efforts of those who really deserve to be recognized.” Similarly, it makes the kids who work really hard feel like there efforts were equal or worse than the efforts of those who do not try hard and do not work hard. On the other hand, if everyone gets a trophy than winners are no longer special. Kids should play sports because they enjoy playing them, not because they want a trophy. It is like one of those arcade games at the movie theater, you keep playing until you win. Another way to say this is, sports were made because they wanted to let people have fun and try to compete, but now sports is turning into the concept of everyone is a winner. Kids and adults feel like we are ruining what sports are supposed to be. In summary, many citizens think that kids should not get trophies for participation because only kids who work hard deserve
L. Hefferman’s article “ In Defense of Participation Trophies: Why they really do teach the right values?” it states “ An award is not really an award if everyone gets it.” (Today.com) In another article by Ashley Merryman called “Losing is Good For You” it says “Awards can be a powerful motivators but nonstop recognition does not inspire children to succeed. Instead, it can cause them to underachieve.” (New York Times Sept. 2013) It is clear, by not giving participation awards it make the children who do get awarded feel more special than if everyone gets one. Obviously, not giving participation awards to everyone gives more of a boost of self-esteem to the people who do get
Our society has shifted its beliefs in how we should treat competition in young people. The question is asked, should all kids get a participation trophy? As it may seem to be an unanswerable question, it honestly isn’t. Thought that the participation trophies may send the message that “coaches” value the kids’ efforts despite their abilities, trophies do not need to be given out. Your words mean just as much when you remind an athlete that you value them in more ways than one. Some may think trophies are a great idea because it shows that everyone’s a “winner.” However, I disagree with that idea. I believe that kids should know that they need to work their hardest in order to be rewarded and understand that not
Priceman states,”They were taught that these awards were placeholders in life. They were records of accomplishment.” It reminds kids of their hard work in a sport. In some cases participation awards are okay, like special needs, and if used correctly, to build a child’s self esteem. But in many cases it does not help children in real life. By giving them too many awards some kids think they cannot live up to the hype, and it brings their self esteem down. While others are the opposite, “When parents regularly overpraised their children’s performances, their children were more likely to be narcissistic two years later”
A solution could be improved by only handing out trophies to those who have earned them. There have been many studies to show the harms of participation trophies and how they can affect a child’s future. One study has shown that “if coaches use trophy presentations as a way to acknowledge each player’s unique effort or contribution, that message can be powerful” (Ross), but the fact is that many coaches will not do this and for that reason participation trophies must be banned from youth athletics. When coaches hand out these trophies they are sending the message that they don’t care and just want the children to always be acknowledged as “winners.” Participation trophies have also diminished the value of true awards, and can make the children who have put in the effort and hard work not feel the reward they should.
A participation trophy can help a child's drive to improve. When a child plays a game and loses, but then watches the other team get a trophy they feel that they suck and won't try to improve. Once they get a participation trophy they make the child feel like they did good and that next time if they get better they will get a bigger trophy for winning and not losing. For instance, “Further, studies also tell us that children who participate in sports get better…”(Huffington 1). This exemplifies that children who participate feel the drive to get better at the sport. When inferring that since they participated they are getting an award if makes them feel like they did good, and then they want to get even better to get a better reward. Thus making the kids get better at the sport showing that participation trophies are beneficial to children, but there are more opportunities to show how they are
Opponents argue that participation trophies are fair solution in youth sports. However, if both teams received a trophy it would not be fair to the winning team. The team that wins is the team that put forth the proper effort in preparing for the game. Children need to learn that they cannot win everything in life, it is impossible to always win. But at the same time, children also need to learn that it is okay to lose at times. Losing is a great too...
But by doing this, it can also send a wrong message to kids who get them for not winning. They could think that these trophies are given for everyone. One quote from the article called “Should Everyone Get a Trophy” by Lauren Tarshis say’s,”But some experts suggest that giving trophies to everyone sends the wrong message. In life, most people are not awarded for simply doing what’s required.” So this tells that giving trophies for every child can tell them something other than what others want them to know. Another quote from the same article states,”An employee doesn’t get a raise just to arriving to work on time. Shouldn’t only the hardest working or the highest performing athletes get the accolades.”This message is what trophies try to tell kids but they can’t because people keep giving these awards to everyone just for
The 'for participation trophies' side believes that by handing out these trophies to children now that it shouldn't have any negative effect on their future. Showing children that by trying and showing up are all that matters. By doing this it makes everyone a winner and therefore everyone should be rewarded. The 'against participation trophies' side believes that by making everyone a winner, this will create negative long-term effects on children. By parents and coaches over praising these children that it won't teach them any positive life lessons.
Today, many sports teams hand out awards to everyone who participated. This is said to encourage participation but an outcome of this is that it devalues the talented kids’ awards, and gives no incentive for other players to try hard which does a poor job of preparing our children for the real world.
Research shows that children who receive ongoing praise aren’t inspired to succeed, instead, it causes athletes to give up. Participation trophies should not be used because failing motivates athletes to keep trying, kids feel cheated when they aren’t known for their accomplishments, and participation trophies don’t help kids improve. Some think participation trophies help motivate young athletes. Although this is true, failing and not receiving an award motivates kids to keep trying so they can get rewarded for individual accomplishments.
These participation awards have a huge impact on a kid. Many may think that these trophies can build up one's self-esteem, but these trophies and also affect them. Kids might stop trying to gain these awards because of how simple it is to earn one. According to, Does sports participation deserve a trophy? Let the parental debate begin, ¨They don´t let kids pass classes 4 just showing up,” Warner wrote.” This is true. Kids might stop trying to gain trophies because they are just going to get a participation trophy anyway. This is why it is also a good idea to only reward kids who deserve them. For example, you don't give all NFL players a participation award, they instead find the player that they think is the best and give them the title of MVP. As you can see, participation awards can disencourage kids to try their
Firstly, “Participation awards begin to instill the idea in a child’s mind that working with a unit can lead to success” Even if they did not win, they became a team and had fun; that still counts as a success. It is also stated that “So while these children may not win the championship, working with a group of peers with the goal of succeeding teaches them that in life, teamwork will be extremely important along with giving it your all.” Winning trophies with a team teaches kids that teamwork is important and learning that at a young age will cause them to continue to believe that later in
If participation trophies were to be pushed more and more, it would give no incentive for kids to push and work harder, as most of them would be satisfied with just a trophy and give them a mindset that they are winners too, which would take away from the real winners. In paragraph 2 of the passage “Participation Trophies Send a Dangerous Message” by Betty Berden, she says “When awards are handed out like candy to every child who participates, it diminishes in value. If every soccer player receives a trophy for merely showing up to practice and playing in games, the truly exceptional players are slighted. The same applies to all teams. Regardless of individual effort or superior skills, all who participate receive equal acknowledgement.”
One reason that children with lower playing skills don’t play as much in a game, but still give their best effort that allows more playing time. This shows coaches want to build up all of their players with the skill they need to learn. In addition to kids getting play time, receiving trophies can encourage young athletes to continue playing if they’re not