We've had lots of
interesting discussions on
kids and
sports, but boy, there's always territory to mine here. One parent on Catholic Answers Forum
posted a whole laundry list of questions regarding what sports parents choose and why. ("How important is the
possibility of a professional career in the sport?" I'll field that one: unless you have already given your kid steroids or named him Tiger, dreeeeam on.) Some of the questions and answers are pretty good, and then I
read this response:
The one thing I hate about kids team sports as of late is
the new "we can't be competitive" attitude. I don't understand
getting to play positions you haven't worked for (my own kids included) and I
don't understand the "everyone gets a trophy" mentality. I don't
understand telling a kid who's born to play shortstop that they can't play
there because we have to let someone who's not qualified play there. It's like
it's the worst thing in the world if our kids fail or are disappointed. It's
not helpful in preparing them for a world that should work on the merit system.
When I was a kid (a most overused phrase) we played where the coach put us and
we were happy to be playing. If we wanted to be in a certain spot, we worked
harder.
I do think this raises a real interesting point about the current obsession with protecting kids from any kind of disappointment or possible sense of inadequacy. Let's not romanticize the days when some kids were picked last for teams (and it probably still happens, because I don't recall most gym teachers being a forward-thinking, egalitarian bunch) but at the same time, what does it mean to work hard if everyone gets an equal turn regardless of effort? I dunno, as an unathletic kid the whole competitive thing
freaked me out so much I was terrified to even attempt most games. But I can
also see some validity to this argument, especially for older kids. What do you
think?
