Pros And Cons Of Participation Trophies

241 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Role of sportsmanship

Participation Trophies; little encouragement or big problem
Your child runs around the field kicking madly at any small object they see moving; maybe even another kids head. At the end of the game, even though the team lost, each player gets a trophy. The whole family goes out for pizza and plays at an arcade having a great time. Did the child really deserve it?
There are numerous reasons why participation trophies are harmful to young children’s well-being. As said by NFL linebacker James Harrison, “When children get participation trophies they think that they are always entitled to an award for doing your best.” (Website #2). Sometimes a child’s best effort isn’t always enough and they should always want to get better. Kids learn to believe

Show More
Related

  • Argumentative Essay: Should Kids Get Participation Trophies?

    311 Words  | 1 Pages

    I will be explaining why I think it's not ok for kids to get a participation trophy. Giving children a participation trophy in sports gives the child a false sense of confidence and will affect them in the future if they go into pro sports, they won't be able to handle a loss.

    Read More

  • Essay Young Athletes Should Not Give Out Participation Trophies

    585 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Essay On Participation Trophies

    725 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Review Of Ashley Merryman's 'Losing Is Good For You'

    856 Words  | 2 Pages

    Every kid on the football field has a trophy. Even the kids who are on the losing team. Kids’ and parents’ faces are bright with smiles, and laughter echoes throughout the field. Kids are showing off their miny trophies, each with a bronze football on them. No one is paying attention to the two feet tall, gold, first place trophy that is in the winning team’s coach’s hand. Everybody is focused on the miniature trophies. Why are these trophies so special? These are participation trophies. Every kid gets one just for participatcuing in a game. Kids started getting participation trophies in the 20th Century. They got the trophies to feel more confident about themselves. Trophies should not be given to every kid because of narcissism increase,

    Read More

  • Participation Trophies Analysis

    420 Words  | 1 Pages

    Handing out participation trophies does not teach kids about the real world. O’Sullivan says, “We reward them for having a parent capable of registering them for a sport.” Participation trophies are for registering and showing up the day they hand out trophies, they are not for hard

    Read More

  • Participation Trophies Research Paper

    1621 Words  | 4 Pages

    Participation trophies to an individual may lead them down a good or bad path, but it depends on how the child receives and views the trophy. The trophy can be harmful making it seem like people don’t have to work hard to accomplish anything, which can affect an individual in the future. The participation of sports is important as it can lead to better time management and teach valuable lessons, and participation trophies help children stay active in the sport. Any individual who receives participation trophies can be lead down a path of

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Participation Trophys

    557 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • 'Forget Trophies, Let Kids Know O. K. To Lose'

    1571 Words  | 4 Pages

    More specifically, Abate argues that trophies will help boost the kids self-esteem. he writes, “ Self-esteem is a big part of one’s childhood. Watching a peer receive a trophy and not receiving one yourself can be degrading.” In this passage, Abate is suggesting that kids deserve something to show that their effort was worthwhile. Moreover, he argues that kids need something to show that their effort was needed to help the team whether they won or not. He writes, “Any kind of honor can make a young kid feel as if he or she meant something to the team, and that could boost the child’s self-confidence -- children today need as much of that as they can get in our society.” In this passage, Abate is suggesting that kids need trophies to boost self-esteem. In conclusion, Abate’s belief is that all children deserve to be rewarded for their work. In my view, Abate is wrong because kids don't deserve a reward for everything they have done. More specifically, I believe that giving children trophies for just playing a sport will make kids feel that they are entitled to things. For example, if a kid has always grown up receiving trophies for their participation they may believe that they deserve a spot on a competitive sports team because they have always been rewarded the same as the other

    Read More

  • Awarding Participation Trophies For Children

    1151 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ultimately, children need to learn what it takes in order to truly be awarded a trophy. Awards are not to just be handed out to each person who participates, but to the ones who have accomplished a victory. Every person loses at times and it is normal, but by teaching children what losing is, it could help them further in life. Little league is meant for children to learn how to play a sport and to have fun, but that does not mean that trophies need to be handed out for participation. Anything worth having in life comes with hard work and educating children of this at a young age will benefit them. A child does not deserve a participation trophy because it does not allow proper effort to be shown, each sport is played to win, and because a child deserves constructive criticism.

    Read More

  • Harrison Bergeron Book Report

    560 Words  | 2 Pages

    The maxim “trying is the important thing” will only lead to laziness and complacency in life. Trying is very important in being successful, but there are many more important things that are necessary for success. Parents try to boost their children’s self-esteem and make their children happy by giving them participation medals, but this is actually counter-productive. Larger and larger amounts of medals and trophies are given for increasingly smaller achievements, and this “everybody’s a winner” mentality can make children grow up to expect success and recognition for a mediocre performance. Children may be led to underachieve and not try their best, which may lead to idleness and lack of achievement in the truly competitive environment of

    Read More

  • Should Everyone Get A Trophy By Lauren Tarshis

    915 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Why Kids Shouldn T Get A Trophy

    573 Words  | 2 Pages

    “It actually harms a child to constantly praise a child for merely showing up. It artificially raises pseudo-self esteem. The trophy actually takes away the motivation to improve,” stated characterandleadership.com. Giving kids a participation trophy can really hurt a child. Every kid should not get a trophy because it is very expensive, it sends the wrong message, and trophies lose value.

    Read More

  • Ineffective Argument in Jessica Statsky's Essay, Children need to Play, Not Compete

    952 Words  | 2 Pages

    Statsky also makes another faulty assumption, which is that competition is an adult imposition on the world of children’s play. She says in her article, “The primary goal of a professional athlete – winning – is not appropriate for children” (629). Children compete to win in the same way that adults do, and they do so on their own without any adult pressure. Common playground gam...

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Beauty Pageants

    1074 Words  | 3 Pages

    In any competition, parents want to see their children succeed in what they like to do. In many competitions there are parents that go way overboard to make their child win. Children listen to what their parents have to say to make them proud, we need to make sure that children are told what could happen to them in any competition they would like to play in. A reason is youth football, it can very dangerous to children because not only will the children be physically hurt but also mentally, why because children brains are not done developing and that could cause them serious health issues in the future. Another reason is beauty pageants, children like doing this competition mainly because they feel like supermodels and moms can get carried

    Read More

  • Lessons Through Sports Essay

    1710 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many parents put their children into sports for the wrong reason. They try to live their past dreams of sports glory through their kid. They can push and dem...

    Read More

More about Pros And Cons Of Participation Trophies

Open Document