When I was growing up the best players on the team got the MVP ribbon. Now it seems like everyone gets an MVP ribbon. It is one thing to hand out other ribbons, such as, a spirit award, a hardest worker award, and most improved award, because being a good sport, working hard, and improving are important qualities to have. But not everyone is the most valuable player on a team. Coaches should not hand out participation awards just for the kid showing up and saying he or she is on the team.

Some leagues even don't keep score claiming that everyone is a winner. Kids run around aimlessly up and down the court or field with no direction. Isn't the whole purpose of the game to try to win? Otherwise it's just a practice with two different teams. Kids need to know that they are worthy and important, but we cannot teach them that all of them are winners. What is going to happen when we put them in a real game? What is going to happen when they're application gets denied? What's going to happen when they don't land their dream job?

Life is filled with failure, thus, we need to raise our kids and teach them how to properly handle failure. We need to teach them to work hard for what they want so that they can become a winner. I was raised in this type of atmosphere. I played games where there was a victorious team and a team that lost. I was not always on the victorious team, and I am not messed up. When I lost, I learned to work harder and put in the extra time I needed in order to do well.

The other day I was talking to my friends about one of the local softball leagues for young girls. Coaches were trying to deny one girl of the awards she earned because they said she was a bad sport. They claimed that she intentionally tried to take other kids out when she was running the bases, but, in reality, she was just doing her job. The players on defense were in the wrong because they did not have the ball and were interfering with her as she was trying to run around the bases. The umpire saw nothing wrong with the way the girl was running the bases. But still, people are trying to take those awards away from her because she is better than the other players. People are so soft today, wanting everyone to get an award and not have winners. That girl earned those awards, and she rightfully deserves them.

We need to stop rewarding everyone when they do not rightfully deserve it, and we need to reward the best because they put in the work and earned it. We cannot raise kids to feel entitled to trophies and ribbons and praise. Life is filled with success and failure, and we need to teach kids how to be successful in it.