Losing Is Good For You, By Ashley Merryman

In “Losing is Good for You,” Ashley Merryman argues that society should stop handing out trophies for participation and instead let your child loose sometimes. Merryman states, “today, participation trophies and prizes are almost a given, as children are constantly assured that they are winners.” She later goes on and says that children who are given so much praise will crack “at the first experience of difficulty.” In her opinion, she does not believe that every child should be given a trophy because

In “Losing is Good for You”, Ashley Merryman instills the idea that society celebrates the essence of success that children achieve in any aspect of their life whether they deserve it or not. Merryman further explains that by celebrating success or, more importantly, the idea that every child is a winner, society takes away the fundamental ideas of hard work. Merryman states that as society limits the opportunity for children to experience failure, this leads to the destruction of the core beliefs

everyone be given a trophy? Could being praised for everything you did have a positive effect on you? Should we earn it on our own or let that one person take it home? What would you do? If we keep spending all of our money to make plastic trophies, then how are we going to provide things when they are actually needed? The answer is we can’t. Ashley Merryman wrote how everyone should not get a trophy and I completely agree with her. Ashley said in her story, “We spend 3 billion dollars on trophies every

are active in organized youth sports each year, with 90% of kids preferring to be on a losing team if they could play rather than warm the bench on a winning team. This statistic is shocking because it shows that kids do not really care about winning or losing, but rather how much “playing time” they get, bringing up the question, should all youth receive trophies for participating in sports? Ashley Merryman, author of “Forget Trophies, Let Kids Know It's O.K. To Lose.” and Parker Abate, author

trophies or awards. According to Ashley Merryman, taken from the New York Times,”It’s O.K. to lose, to make a mistake. (In a study of gold medal olympians, they said a previous loss was key to their championships.) It’s through failure and mistakes that we learn the most.” In this essay I’ll explain to you how giving kids trophies affects them in the in the long and short term. First of all, when a child gets a trophy for everything they do “we’re teaching kids that losing is so terrible

time, they will lose their value, they will over-inflate a child’s ego, and because it will make them unprepared for life. On the contrary, trophies should only be given to the highest ranking people in the competition, because trophies are good for rewarding as long as they deserve it. “The trophy has to stand for something” says Brenda Lasevoli in the article “Should Everyone Get a Prize”. This is saying that if a person has so many trophies in their house that they running out of space

to see their children succeed in life and surpass what they have ever done. To reach the goals parents want for their children, a child must know that they will not always win or succeed. Ashley Merryman is the co-author of "NurtureShock: New Thinking about Children" and "Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing." and she has stated, “If children always receive a trophy – regardless of effort or achievement – we’re teaching kids that

improve on my mistakes. Then I felt I was improving, and you love the feeling when you earned a trophy and that's how I felt. People shouldn’t deserve to give participation trophies because you get nothing out of it. Not every player or academic should receive a trophy because failure makes one want to succeed, trophies do not motivate players, and awards are devalued if everyone gets one. Failure makes one want to succeed. As Ashley Merryman states, “If I were a baseball coach, I would announce at

fine and we tried our hardest but know one would talk at all. So what I am basically trying to say is that I Believe that winning is good and fun, but it's also good to lose because it teaches you what to work on and to work harder next time. Today many parents believe that all children should get a trophy. Do you agree with those parents? I don't know about you but I disagree with those parents. I believe that only certain children should get trophies. If every kid knows that they're gonna get

should award every child with a trophy or medal for their participation, or if they should reserve these awards for those who won the most. If you praise and reward a child for just showing up, then it will hurt them later in life. There are two kinds of youth sports parents. There are the parents who admittedly say that it's not about winning or losing but about having fun. Then there are the parents who care only about the score of the game, and if their kid gets playtime. (Weller 1). The parents

would pick winning over losing every single time. Why wouldn’t they? Winning has many benefits: It makes you feel good, the enjoyment and pleasure of beating your rival; it also makes you feel great because you exceeded at something and beat it; winning also makes a person feel more powerful as if they can beat anything. Over-all winning seems to be far greater than losing; however, if you were to ask me the same question, would I win or would I lose, I say I would pick losing over winning at least

twice about it. They would pick winning over losing every time. Why would they not? Winning has many benefits: the feeling of beating a rival is full of enjoyment and pleasure; it also makes you feel great because you exceeded at something and beat it; winning also makes a person feel more powerful as if they can accomplish anything. Overall winning seems to be far greater than losing; however, there are many greater benefits in losing. To start, losing is far better for a person than winning; it

in life. Thesis: In youth sports, Should you get a trophy just for showing up? Attention Getter: Show up or don’t show up no worries you’ll get a trophy. Reason to Listen: In youth sports organization you pay to play. Every child receives a trophy that’s on the rooster. You win, you get a trophy, you lose, you get a trophy, you never show up to a game you get a trophy. Wow what kind of message are we sending our kids. Thesis: In youth sports, Should you get

Lack of preparation is failing to make this decade’s kids real world ready. The kids will think they deserve anything for doing little work. James Harrison a former NFL athlete came home to his kids having participation trophies and said they were unacceptable. He threw them away. The coaches, parents, or league owners are giving kids participation trophies. So therefore, we need to stop giving children participation trophies and stop coddling them. Participation trophies are teaching today’s kids

organizations should award every child with a trophy or medal for their participation, or if they should reserve these awards for those who won the most. If you praise and award a child for just showing up then it will hurt them later in life. There are two kinds of youth sports parents. There are the parents who adimitly say that it’s not about winning or losing but about having fun. Then there are the parents who only care if their son is on the winning team, and the idea of it’s just a game is for losers