Negative Effects of Participation Trophies
Participation trophies seem like a good idea for young children. To a child who needs a boost of confidence, enticing them with a potential award at the end of Little League season might keep them motivated to attend practices and contribute their talents in games. If handled properly, participation trophies could motivate young children to want to try other new experiences. The problems arise when the children are old enough to realize that everyone’s effort is not the same, but everyone’s trophy is the same.
Some people believe that receiving rewards at a young age is important. Kenneth Barish, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychology at Weill Medical College, Cornell University and author …show more content…
Some parents go overboard by applauding everything their child does as if it is a unique achievement. Experts warn that there is a fine line between building self-esteem and creating a narcissist. Participation trophies are a weak attempt, by well-meaning adults, to build self-esteem. A better way to build self-esteem is to give children opportunities to explore their own interests. Once they know what truly interests them, they need encouragement and chances to improve their skills. Jean Twenge, author of Generation Me, studied the increase in narcissism and entitlement among college students. Self-esteem, she explained, means you think you’re a person of worth equal with other people. Narcissism means you think you’re better than other people. Twenge advised, “You’re going to lose more often than you win, even if you’re good at something. You’ve got to get used to that to keep going. When children make mistakes, our job should not be to spin those losses into decorated victories. Instead, our job is to help kids overcome setbacks, to help them see that progress over time is more important than a particular win or loss, and to help them graciously congratulate the child who succeeded when they failed. To do that, we need to refuse all the meaningless plastic and tin destined for landfills. We have to stop letting the Trophy-Industrial Complex run our children’s lives.” Twang added, …show more content…
If their answer is, “Everybody gets a trophy,” look for a different program. The same article points out that, before punishing children, “we must consider their individual levels of cognitive and emotional development. Then we monitor them, changing our approach if there’s a negative outcome. However, when it comes to rewards, people argue that kids must be treated identically: everyone must always win. That is misguided. And there are negative outcomes. Not just for specific children, but for society as a whole.” (Merryman par. 12) Trophies were once expensive items purchased from jewelry stores, so they were reserved for special occasions. But after being mass-produced and marketed heavily, the trophy industry is an estimated $6 billion
Participation trophies seem like a good idea for young children. To a child who needs a boost of confidence, enticing them with a potential award at the end of Little League season might keep them motivated to attend practices and contribute their talents in games. If handled properly, participation trophies could motivate young children to want to try other new experiences. The problems arise when the children are old enough to realize that everyone’s effort is not the same, but everyone’s trophy is the same.
Some people believe that receiving rewards at a young age is important. Kenneth Barish, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychology at Weill Medical College, Cornell University and author …show more content…
Some parents go overboard by applauding everything their child does as if it is a unique achievement. Experts warn that there is a fine line between building self-esteem and creating a narcissist. Participation trophies are a weak attempt, by well-meaning adults, to build self-esteem. A better way to build self-esteem is to give children opportunities to explore their own interests. Once they know what truly interests them, they need encouragement and chances to improve their skills. Jean Twenge, author of Generation Me, studied the increase in narcissism and entitlement among college students. Self-esteem, she explained, means you think you’re a person of worth equal with other people. Narcissism means you think you’re better than other people. Twenge advised, “You’re going to lose more often than you win, even if you’re good at something. You’ve got to get used to that to keep going. When children make mistakes, our job should not be to spin those losses into decorated victories. Instead, our job is to help kids overcome setbacks, to help them see that progress over time is more important than a particular win or loss, and to help them graciously congratulate the child who succeeded when they failed. To do that, we need to refuse all the meaningless plastic and tin destined for landfills. We have to stop letting the Trophy-Industrial Complex run our children’s lives.” Twang added, …show more content…
If their answer is, “Everybody gets a trophy,” look for a different program. The same article points out that, before punishing children, “we must consider their individual levels of cognitive and emotional development. Then we monitor them, changing our approach if there’s a negative outcome. However, when it comes to rewards, people argue that kids must be treated identically: everyone must always win. That is misguided. And there are negative outcomes. Not just for specific children, but for society as a whole.” (Merryman par. 12) Trophies were once expensive items purchased from jewelry stores, so they were reserved for special occasions. But after being mass-produced and marketed heavily, the trophy industry is an estimated $6 billion