When did parents stop teaching their children how to cope with disappointment and start awarding them every time they “tried”? Is the short term happiness of a trophy more important than a long term adult who can handle failure? When I was on the College of lake County tennis team I was never able to play any match that counted. At the end of the season, when I was asked if I would be back for the next year, I talked to the coach about not playing the whole season and that I came to every practice because he said that I would play the “next game”; that I would rather not be on the tennis team if I would only be sitting on the sidelines. The next day I got a trophy for being “the most dedicated player”. I believe that I was given a trophy because it would make me “feel better”. This greatly upset me; it felt like they could buy me off with a trophy. Children are getting rewarded too much and they are not being taught how to pull themselves up from a mistake or not getting what they want. I fear that this generation of always getting praise and trophies will grow up not ready for the world. Although, this generation has still not fully …show more content…
Alternatives are explored, and family members are mutually supportive.” (Berns 2004) When a child has tried, on let’s say a soccer team, and failed to win parents and coaches should talk about what made the experience fun and how they can win in the future as opposed to handing out trophies. As adults we get very little praise for what we do regardless of how beneficial it is or how well we did it. Children need to build themselves up and learn that it is okay to not succeed and they can’t build up that resilience to bad events if they have always been soothed my praise or gifts. “After studying children's coping and resilience mechanisms for over 40 years, she (Carol Dweck) says too much praise may lead to less resilient children.” (Diller