09 Aug 2006
Some question move to protect children from exclusion, failure

Not only are we creating a nation of wimps, they'll be whining wimps when they don't win all the time:

Kids grow up and have this inflated sense of self-worth. Whether they earn anything, it's always a trophy. They have no sense that you have to work hard for some things.

Which is true, but what's also true, as the article points out:

For one thing, kids' lives are so tightly scheduled today that we're enrolling smaller and smaller children in organized activities. It may be true that 6-year-olds aren't ready to handle losing a T-Ball championship; a generation ago, 6-year-olds wouldn't have even been playing team sports.

We've got to stop this. This is a surer way to destroy Western civilization than all the terrorist bombs and crackpot dictators with nukes put together. These kids are our future: they'll be running the show when we're scooting around in walkers and wheelchairs. And unless they're competent and confident, we're screwed.

People who expect to win all the time are the biggest losers of all.

Penny Grossman cringes each time a student mentions a birthday party during class at her Boston, Massachusetts-area preschool. The rule there, and at a growing number of America's schools, is that parties and play-dates shouldn't be discussed unless every child in the room is invited.

(link) [CNN]

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