"We spend an estimated $3 billion on trophies every year in the United States and Canada." Should Everyone Get a Trophy? Participation trophies are given out to little kids after participating in a youth sport. Children know that participation trophies aren't the same as winning first place. Children's lives are already full of competition—we don't have to load them up with more. Celebrating children's participation, regardless of success or failure, protects children's emotional health." Psychology Today says it all. The first time the participation was mentioned in 1922, The Ohio State Invitational High School Basketball Tournament gave trophies to every invited member, while also handing out awards to the winners. "The most scorned sentence in …show more content…
They need to teach their kids to accept their loss and try harder and not to spin those losses into decorated victories." ( Are participation trophies worthwhile? ) In other words, kids never get the chance to experience failure, or to learn from it. They grow up feeling entitled to rewards for simply showing up. Young kids should grasp the concept of losing so they are not as likely to get hurt about it, and then shelter and protect them. Secondly, it kills the competition. When participation trophies are given out, kids lose motivation. "The biggest complaint is that participation trophies discourage hard work and diminish competition." The Participation Trophy Controversy: Problem or Progress? Studies show when every kid gets a trophy, it becomes somewhat of a "hollow victory" for the kids. "By telling everyone that they’re equal, instead of choosing a winner, it can prevent kids from trying to perform at their full potential because they know they will be rewarded no matter what. Kids who do work hard may decline in performance because they don’t understand why they should try harder if the reward is the same for everyone." Participation Trophy