It Takes a Village....Idiot

Hear ye! Here ye! (That makes this official):

Anyone - ANYONE at all who has influence over a child and does not take that responsibility seriously is an IDIOT! I may be channelling my inner Whitney Houston here...if that's even possible since she's not dead....I digress. My point is, I too believe the children are our future. The lessons we teach them knowingly, and by example when we're not even paying attention, directly affects the way the world will be run tomorrow. None of us get it right all of the time, but I am noticing a trend that is beginning to concern me.

Junk science and popular theories currently have parents, teachers, and youth leaders in general, working towards two goals that in all actuality oppose each other. First, the notion that children will develop low self esteem if they fail at something. And secondly, that winning is of absolute importance. Now, I am no mathematician, but I recall some rules about how a positive + a negative still = a negative. And, that's exactly what I am seeing with our future generation. I can't be the only one who is sick and tired of crybabies with entitlement issues. "Man up Bobby you lost. Better luck next time." I can't tell you how many times those words have almost slipped off my tongue.

I am of the opinion, a little bit of friendly competition will challenge a person, and motivate them to work harder. When they work harder, they are made better, as are the people that are playing/working/associating with them. I believe that a sense of accomplishment can be felt by seeing one's self improve, even if winning is not the end result. I even think that not winning will cause a person to set a goal of trying to win next time. And, if they want it bad enough, they will initiate some type of action plan to get it done.

Someone out there hoped and dreamed that one day man could take flight. That thought spiraled into mankind voyaging through space! We live in the information age. Knowledge continues to increase. But safety guards, like no letter grades so the children won't feel to bad, will hamper progress. How can it push them to try harder when there is a sliding scale of success? There are children that can learn to run faster and play more strategically to break records. But, where is there motivation to do that when everyone gets a trophy?

It's time to stop coddling. It's time to raise the standard on what we expect from little people. It's time to be amazed at what they can do with out handicapping them with safety guards in the name of self esteem development.