Personal Narrative: A New Place In The Close

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” this phrase is a great representation of the problem that children of the world face due to participation trophies. Participation trophies kill the drive of young kids unless they are taught to accept them correctly. Children need to know that these awards should not be a goal.

The trophies are the color of gold, and they gleam to gain attention. These feathers in the band’s cap have the ratings and rankings from the competition that they were gained from. Whether it’s a good score or a bad score, the golden shimmer attracts the sight of anyone nearby. If it’s a good score, the trophy says, “Good job! Keep it up.” But if it’s a bad score, the trophy says, “You better step it up if you want to do better next weekend.” The trophies are placed right above the band lockers so that the band sees its motivation every time an instrument is taken out.

As children who have received participation awards begin to grow older, they are introduced to more and more situations in which not everyone is a winner. A person who has been a winner all their life will eventually lose, and it will affect them more seriously because they have not had experience dealing with failure at an early age. According to the article “Failure is an Option: Raising Children in a ‘Participation Trophy’ Society” in Scouting Magazine, Dr. Tim Elmore believes failure is like a coach, teaching kids to try their best. Elmore argues that participation trophies take away the positive effects of losing, and children grow up lacking motivation and become wary of testing their abilities due to fear of failure. This leads to children being more emotionally fragile than they should be, which may eventually result in serious matters such as depression and even suicide. Participation awards treat everyone like a winner, which means children do not learn how to cope with loss. Kids that don’t experience dealing with failure end up being afraid of it, and this constant fear contributes to psychological problems such as stress, anxiety, and depression. For example, if a child were to

    Standing in the Brown County Fair Swine barn arena, I stood in line with seven other girls waiting to hear the results. Our hands were drenched in sweat as the announcer complimented us on a job well done. The crowd stomped their feet as a drum roll, “And our grand champion is…”

I began to imagine all the possible outcomes from, my pig having a panic attack, to get classed out, or disqualified of my class, but luckily things went smoothly. A sense of relief came over me when the judge pinned my pig automatically. When the judges finished narrowing the contestants to top twelve, I got nervous and excited all over again. From there, it passed in a blink of an eye. The next thing I remember vividly was the judge pointing at me to pin me back. The crowd roared, but anger rushed over me. "Why are they cheering for me? I just got last." was the first thought that came to mind. Then it occurred to me, the judge was pinning from top to bottom. I just won my class at the San Antonio stock

Losing, no one wants to lose no matter what they are doing. If a kid loses then they want to get better and then get the prize but if a kid gets a trophy for no reason then they think that they don’t have to try harder and then faces difficulties in life that they don’t understand. “My children look forward to their trophy as much as playing the game.” (Jean Twenge) if kids think that the trophy has the same amount of importance as the game they shouldn’t play at all.

Once a negative thought about self-esteem is created, it slips its way into every thought. Many sources prove giving kids a participation trophy is much more beneficial than not. As well as upraising the low self-esteem of a child who may be struggling with their confidence, awarding everyone a trophy can demonstrate all the hard work and endeavour the child put in, furthermore reminding them that they are an important element of something.

Some felt nervous and worried and others felt excited. We knew winning would not be easy because a substantial number of students were contesting against us. We finally reached our destination. As we were grabbing our items, we were lectured by our teachers to try our best and enjoy our day. We all then escorted to the campus and waited in an endless line to pick up our numbers. As were waiting, my friends, and I told each other riddle questions and tried to answer them in the briefest time possible. Sofie asked "A man is trapped in a room. The room has only two possible exits: two doors. Through the first door there is a room constructed from a magnifying glass. The blazing hot sun instantly fries anything or anyone that enters. Through the second door there is a fire-breathing dragon. How does the man escape?" After a short period of silence Molly said "He can only escape through the first door because the dragon would eat him. Right?" Sofie replied "Not really, a part of your answer is missing." I immediately added "He needs to wait until night time and then goes through the first door." Sofie said with a big smile on her face, "That is correct!" I was overjoyed not solely for getting the answer correct but because it was finally, our turn to receive our table

As me and my family walked into the fair, I heard the noises of people rushing around trying to get everything done. Oh and the smells, they filled my nostrils with some good… aaaand some bad aromas. Me and my Family decided to attacked the Food on-A-stick challenge,where people try and get every Food-On-A-Stick around the fair which there is 75 different types of food on a stick, then they take a picture and get the satisfaction of defeating

The day is April 2, 2016, twenty different teams yearn for the gold medal and are up for the challenge to gain it. Some will flourish while the rest perish. What is the purpose for the extremities? Science Olympiad, of course. And what exactly is Science Olympiad? The essential basics of this competition revolve around the simple science fair; if the said science fair involves the blood, profanity, and tears that is usually common in hockey. In the 36 possible events of Science Olympiad, each student of Columbia High School has to choose two of which to be their torture and anxiety for the next two months. The student of Nikki Robinson had unwisely chosen only one event of which she was familiar with, while the other she was continuously

In Ashley Merryman’s article, “Forget Trophies, Let Kids Know it’s O.K. to Lose,” she claims that children who lose do not deserve participation trophies. She states that children need to know it is alright to fail and make mistakes because that is how they learn lessons the most. She addresses an issue that children need trophies to boost their self-esteem but backs her argument that children either become narcissistic or have even less self-esteem because they believe they can’t live up to their own hype. Merryman declares that the best way for a child to feel self-fulfillment is for them to master a skill and earn the victory

Receiving a trophy has a negative effect on a child’s work ethic. Giving an award for making an appearance may ensure the child feels appreciated, but teaches that a reward can be received when nothing has been accomplished. This outlook can lead to a poor performance in school and has the potential to continue into the workforce. After a child receives the expected trophy a few times, it becomes a monotonous routine. There is no real meaning. The child realizes that the more events he or she attends, the more trophies, ribbons, and metals are likely to be acquired. Instead of acting as a reward for exceptional behavior, it becomes normal and the moment of pride felt when receiving a trophy is taken away.

It was fifth grade during a two week stretch where we spent time with each other almost every other day. We could spend all these hours together and never get bored. And this day was no different, Rod went bowling the day before and I discovered cup-stacking. I tried to show off my cup-stacking skills in a 3-2-1 formation, like a fair game. Then, he took a baseball and hurled it at my creation. Like telepathic twins, the same idea came to both of our minds: “Let's make a…” I proposed, “Carnival” Rod yelled out. We both laughed at the

Trophies, however, are what differentiate the good from the best and can be used to create a competitive spirit and should be awarded more sparingly. According to a social comparison theory from the 1950s by Leon Festinger, Trophies are an important benchmark by which people can measure their own performance and aim

“Trophies should be given out for first, second and third; participation should be recognized but celebrated with words and a pat on the back rather than a trophy,” said student, Betty Berdan. Trophies are a symbol of accomplishment and winning. But there are not conveyed that way anymore than what they used to be. These golden pieces of metal or plastics are made regularly and are handed out to every single kid, even if they had no contribution to the team. Trophies are meant to show achievement as well as accomplishment. If everyone aquired a trophy, they would diminish in value. Although participation is encouraged and thoughtful, it shows that losing is accepted, that failure is totally normal. Failure is common and it is needed to build character and charisma. In today’s world, the strong survive, and the weak still have a place in the world. If everyone were to be equal in accomplishing tasks and achievements, there would be no moral value to anything that anyone did. This is basically what communism is, not saying that handing a trophy to everyone is communism, but if everyone was made equal there would be no diversity and determination to do better. That is why we need to teach kids that failure happens and that we need to overcome that failure with future success and get them stronger rather than brainwashing them to believe that they can do anything without putting forth hard effort. In baseball, you can fail 70 percent of the time, and still be inducted into the hall of fame. No olympic athlete had reached the place they are right now without some sort of failure, that they had overcame. Michael Jordan wouldn’t be one of the best basketball players to ever live, without him making his high school varsity team. Walt Disney wouldn’t be one of the most creative and inspirational figures without him being denied jobs and fired for not being ‘creative’. We need failure in our life, we need that feeling of losing. Trophies are for achievement, not failure, and we need to teach kids that moral belief.