Winners and Losers

When I was growing up, competition was present in every aspect of my childhood. With my siblings, friends and classmates and of course in sports and with school. This continued on through adolescence and even into my adulthood. It was a normal part of growing up. But somewhere along the way things changed. Competition with real winners and losers started to disappear.

I first noticed it when my children became involved in sports. The coaches were mostly moms who volunteered when no fathers were available. Moms, being moms, they never want children to be hurt or disappointed. Children would get trophies, just to keep them from feeling like losers. So, instead of teaching children in the developmental years, that there are winners and losers. That not everyone wins at everything, we have taught our children that it is ok to be losers. That mediocrity is fine, that just showing up makes them winners. We haven't taught our children that failure, along with losing is a part of life. We haven't taught them that trying harder, working hard, striving harder will help them reach their full potential.

With this, "it's ok to lose" attitude so ingrained in our children, there is a sense that it's ok to be second best. There is no drive to be the best, to overcome obstacles that life puts in front of them. There is a "so what" attitude that you see in their lack of work ethic, how they dress, how they interact with others, in every aspect of who they are and sadly who they may become. Recently, a major pizza restaurant starting running a TV advertisement that played to this entire phenomenon. What does say about our culture?

Our children are becoming followers and not the leaders that they need to be. In this world that they will inherit from us, they will need leaders who can think for themselves and stand by their decision. Our children will have to be stronger then we have been. But with this kind of mentality, how will our children achieve their full potential?

Parents, coaches, teachers and the adult population in general need to take a hard look at how we promote learning, sports and life overall. We need to take a step back in time and get back to basics. If we don't start helping our children, and grandchildren learn the concept of winners and losers then we may lose an entire generation to a downward spiral of mediocrity.