Dear Crabby, Are Participation Awards a Good or Bad Idea?
Thanks, Justin Givens
Dear Mr. Givens,
With having kids and grandkids, I’m certainly no stranger to the award for doing nothing. Experts seem to be divided on the issue. Some claim it’s important for a child to feel like a winner—all the time—to continue with the sport or activity. You know, it builds their self-esteem and confidence, and so on. Others insist that we’re just building them up for a greater let down one day because they’ve become accustomed to being a winner.
Back when I was a kid, trophies were very rare. In our little league, our baseball coach would only give out three trophies per season—Best Overall, Best Sportsmanship, and Most Improved. These were real awards within our team and those boys took it serious. I could care less.
One year my parents suggested a new bike may come my way if I could cleaned up my act and became a better player. I knew I couldn’t compete with the best players, nor could I improve much more. Therefore, I set my goals on having a better attitude; and to try to win the sportsman award. Therefore, I applauded for every player on the team, even when he struck out. I got to practice early, stayed late, helped clean the locker room. I helped carry the equipment, gave pep talks, and congratulated the other teams when they beat us. Everyone noticed—my coach, my parents, even those brat teammates of mine—I was on my way to a new bike.
Well, I won Best Sportsman, got the trophy and the new bike. Everyone was proud of me—except my old man—he knew I faked it. Sure, he bought the bike and played along, but I had disappointed him. From there on out, I was myself, good, bad, or crabby.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, deep down a person knows if they earned an award or not. Is the trophy for the kid or his parents? In the real world, people lose more often than win. And while it’s important to excite children to participate, at some point we need to show them the dark side, too. Let’s promote fewer awards and make sure the ones we give out mean something.
Sincerely,
Dear Crabby
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Bad idea