James Harrison Wants His Kids To Earn Trophies

I saw it on facebook this morning. I have to say I agree but since I was raised in that time where if you didn't place you didn't get squat. Although I do see the need to not squash every child's hopes and dreams there should also be a line for not blowing smoke up their rears either.

 

I saw this in the twitter section on this site

all I can say is

tough love

 

Good for him!! Make them give back the juice boxes too!

 

I have two trains of thoughts on this subject.

1. I agree with his principle of not believing in participation trophies. I grew up in a time when participation trophies weren't handed out. You either won a trophy or you didn't.

But...

2. He's almost turning his kids into martyrs in a way. There's ways of expressing his beliefs without taking away the trophies given to his kids. He can explain to them that although the trophies are nice and all, when it comes to sports, there needs to be a balance between having fun and winning. Simlpy participating isn't good enough. With that said, what pisses me off a little isn't that he took the trophies away. That's really not a big deal and although I disagree, I can understand it. His statement about your best not being good enough is downright insulting. Not everyone can make it into the NFL. Not everyone is good enough to earn trophies in competitive sports. If his kids tried their hardest but came up short, that's perfectly okay. He's sending the wrong message. All you can do is your best. It sounds like he's setting his kids up for a boom or bust life. Either they'll make it big, or they'll be failures, there's no in between.

 

good points

I'd also like to add that this can be applied to parents of kids who are STEELERFANS
it's either boom or bust
and also the fact that the kids better be STEELERFANS
most of the time

 

You have a point Shaner but lets remember that he may not be expressing his thoughts and beliefs in the best way possible given the limitations of the medium. That character limit can really hamstring you when you are trying to convey the subtleties of your personal thoughts. He may actually have something more in line with what you are getting at.

 

Sorry but in the sports world your best really is never good enough and that's how you get better. That's what drives you to get better. If these guys or really to me anyone thinks what they are doing is good enough then they aren't trying to get better. I don't know that's just the way I look at it.

 

Maybe, but I can only comment on what he says, not what he might be thinking. I just didn't like his comment and I think that type of attitude can be damaging to kids. Yes, it's a cut throat world out there, but let kids be kids. There's no reason to expose them to it right away. That doesn't mean they should get trophies for doing nothing, but there's a happy medium in there somewhere.

 

JH has a point, joining up for sports in his mind is no great feat and not worthy of an award, but on the other hand if his kids are proud of the award and it encourages them to stride for bigger and better goals I don't see where any harm has been done, obviously his kids are aware he is a strict parent and don't want to get on his bad side.....

 

But we're talking about kids, not pro athletes. There's a huge difference.

 

It's not different. He is teaching these kids to always strive to get better. Say you best isnt good enough is basically saying never be satisfied. You can teach a lot with youth sports and instill a lot of values with it for everyday life. My one kid is so fricking smart it scary but he is always pushing himself to learn more and do more. So I'm sorry but if you accept that your best is good enough you're never going to get better.

 

wonder what James would say to his kids if they performed bad after their dog died?
just asking because it kind of is related to the Jesse James thread (that it became).

It really shows that there are infinite variables in life and there are very few truefacts about it.

what I feel is

TTF gave us all a house to come and live in and even though we are here as STEELERFANS we will not always get along or agree on all aspects of the multitude of discussions we have here or the way these discussions are presented

as long as they fall within the house rules TTF established


now for some reason
I want to go listen to a block of music by
Corrosion of Conformity

 

I Don't believe in participation trophies either... That being said, didn't Deuce Stayley get a SB trophie/ ring for not doing nothing..

 

So, in other words, Dan Marino needs to throw his HOF bust in the trash. He wasn't a winner.

 

well if he is okay with it then so be it

but if it was me and I was an nfl qb who never won a super bowl which is the ultimate goal I think I would have it in a storage unit atleast if not at my next auction for people who think it is worth more than I . At least it is beneficial

 

I wouldn't brag about it

 

Nothing more informative than when a pro sportsman decides to pontificate on developmental pedagogy.

Wait, no...

I'm fairly sure I'll be in the minority here for thinking that maybe - just maybe - there's a range of contextual factors at work with these kind of things that teaching professionals and educational psychologists have theorised, researched and developed over a long period of time. So maybe - just maybe - James could engage with some of that? Better yet, ask the school what it's all about, what the idea is based on, how they see it fitting into their wider development?

Probably too much to ask. FWIW, I don't really have a view whether giving kids trophies for whatever is a good thing or not, so I'm not looking for a debate on it. I just get fed up with the way these kind of things get reduced to sporting clichés that are too clichéd to even be used in sport anymore.

 

you're british we don't care ferner

 

I need a King George emoticon or something.

 

Henry the 8th would work

 

I just think that's a sad way of raising kids. Telling them that they're never good enough unless they're the best, which is unrealistic in almost every case. Let kids be kids and let them enjoy sports without feeling the need to be the best

 

you do not win you do not get a trophy

one must consider if life is a competition

I'm guilty of being too competitive and it usually ends up involving gambling

so that's my blue ribbon trophy
money in the purse
to buy a new purse

 

Henry says



nobody competes with him.

 

My son is 7 and has been playing baseball for 3 years now. He has 5 trophies, 3 of which are participation trophies and 2 are Championship game trophies. He is proud of all of them and I wouldn't want anyone to take that enthusiasm he gets when showing all of them off away from him at that age. As he grows older, I would like to see him earn these trophies just like I expect him to begin earning his way thru life by making sound decisions. I feel participation trophies are important at an early stage of life but with time can be very harmful if it continues beyond the age of 10.