News Anchor Says Giving Kids Participation Trophies Is 'Child Abuse'
LatestOn Sunday, James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers took to Instagram to deride the nationwide scourge of participation trophies, put here on earth to litter the lives of loser kids who don’t try hard enough. He hates them so much, he said, that he’s making his kids give their own participation trophies back.
Harrison’s kids are age six and eight; his Instagram post came with the following caption:
I came home to find out that my boys received two trophies for nothing, participation trophies! While I am very proud of my boys for everything they do and will encourage them till the day I die, these trophies will be given back until they EARN a real trophy. I’m sorry I’m not sorry for believing that everything in life should be earned and I’m not about to raise two boys to be men by making them believe that they are entitled to something just because they tried their best…cause sometimes your best is not enough, and that should drive you to want to do better…not cry and whine until somebody gives you something to shut u up and keep you happy. #harrisonfamilyvalues
While many people agreed with Harrison’s statements about entitlement, quite a few others suggested that participation trophies might be encouraging to those kids who like sports but don’t have a natural propensity for it to keep trying. And what could be the harm in that? Especially if you explained to your kids that hey, a participation trophy is great, but it’s not like a Heismann or anything, and doesn’t negate the obligation to try at what you do. Instead of returning the trophies (also, why return? Just throw them out, man), the whole thing could have turned into a lesson about the nature of competition. Instead, it just seems like two kids under 10 are just going to be like, “Dad. I didn’t care about that trophy anyway.”