Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker, James Harrison, took to Instagram on Saturday to say he was returning two awards his sons James III and Henry received from a local athletics event. Harrison noted that while he is proud of his young children, he only wants his sons to earn “real” trophies. The 37-year-old says he doesn’t want his children to feel entitled, adding “cause sometimes your best is not enough, and that should drive you to want to do better.”
The majority of responses to his post were positive there were many who objected to his actions. Stating that while he could do whatever he wants, “participation trophies” weren’t a bad thing. Some said he was cruel to take these trophies from his kids. Harrison’s teammates applauded his parenting approach.
I’ve been meaning to write about this topic for a very long time. Unfortunately, we live in a society in which we award children for everything. Don’t get me started on 2nd grade graduation ceremonies (really?!). We live in a society where the moment a child whines we falter and feed the children whatever material possession will make them “feel better.” Be it a trophy, an iPod or even money. The sense entitlement as Harrison mentioned should not be a pervasive ideology amongst our youth. Without failure one cannot achieve success. Whatever happened to practice makes perfect?
This is not how we should be parenting our children. At least it won’t be the manner in which I raise my own. While I think we should get away from the mentality that everyone deserves a prize I do have somewhat of an issue with this scenario. His children were already awarded these trophies. Harrison should have probably made his wishes clear beforehand. Don’t really think it’s the best approach to take the trophy after the fact. He should have made it clear to his boys that they either win the top prizes or they win nothing.
What do you think? Should he return the trophies?
Should we put an end to “participation trophies?”
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Twitter: @adrakontaidis & @talkrealdebate
