Today, children accumulate trophies for almost everything such as sports, school activities, competitions, and events. Many parents wonder if their kids should receive trophies for just participating in activities. Is it healthy or destructive for kids to receive them if they do not work for them. Studies show that always rewarding kids can cause them to lose motivation, and cause them to fall easier. We should stop handing out trophies to the kids that just participate because losing can teach children life lessons, hopefully lead to good sportsmanship, and help them overcome obstacles. Ashley Merryman, the co-author of Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing, believes that awards can inspire children, but that constant praise and rewards
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She discovered that it can affect kids negatively by teaching them only to do the mediocre work and not helping them compel themselves, attempt to achieve higher goals, and not pushing them to do the best possible. Twenge says that even in their jobs they might still have it ingrained in their minds that participation is all that is necessary and required. I personally feel that this is already happening in today’s young society. People who are used to getting honor roll for grades such as C’s are becoming used to being rewarded for average work. They then are not attempting to get higher grades because they know that either way they will get to go on honor roll. If we did not have an honor roll for grades such as C’s, those people would push and strive to get higher …show more content…
She also states that the ones who do work hard will become upset when they do not receive rewards and recognition for their accomplishments. On the other hand, if we did not hand out trophies to the kids that just participated, they could also become extremely motivated to receive a trophy next time and the kids that did work hard and earned a trophy would not feel cheated. When kids are young trophies do motivate them but as Carol said, by age 4 and 5 they know that not everyone deserves one. At around age 7 or 8 we should stop giving trophies to everyone and have kids push themselves to earn a trophy or an
She discovered that it can affect kids negatively by teaching them only to do the mediocre work and not helping them compel themselves, attempt to achieve higher goals, and not pushing them to do the best possible. Twenge says that even in their jobs they might still have it ingrained in their minds that participation is all that is necessary and required. I personally feel that this is already happening in today’s young society. People who are used to getting honor roll for grades such as C’s are becoming used to being rewarded for average work. They then are not attempting to get higher grades because they know that either way they will get to go on honor roll. If we did not have an honor roll for grades such as C’s, those people would push and strive to get higher …show more content…
She also states that the ones who do work hard will become upset when they do not receive rewards and recognition for their accomplishments. On the other hand, if we did not hand out trophies to the kids that just participated, they could also become extremely motivated to receive a trophy next time and the kids that did work hard and earned a trophy would not feel cheated. When kids are young trophies do motivate them but as Carol said, by age 4 and 5 they know that not everyone deserves one. At around age 7 or 8 we should stop giving trophies to everyone and have kids push themselves to earn a trophy or an