Better than growing up cynical and bitter because you never got noticed for anything you did try your hardest in and still came up short. Maybe everyone shouldn't get participation awards but it doesn't kill people to recognize the effort they put into it, unless they didn't put effort into it at all. Don't kill someone's spirit just because they aren't good at something because that makes them less likely to even try it again. Tell them you know they tried their best but they need to make improvements because that's what my math teacher did for me when I failed and he would tell me "Good job for trying BUT there's room for improvement" and he would tell me the things I needed to improve on and show me how to get there and at the end of the year I passed with straight A's.
i dunno have a couple participation awards from being a kid i really like them because they help me remember those days that i might have otherwise forgotten. plus in girl scouts we got patches for like every event we went to, they went in a different spot than achievement patches, because just like a participation award is labeled as participation and not placement, these were just for participating and went into a separate location (the back of the vest or sash) and thus you got something for going but still maintained the value of things you worked for. i don't think kids are as stupid as we think they are, they do not think their participation prizes mean they achieved something and its not ruining them, i think getting something just for trying encourages them to keep trying, even at shit they are not good at.
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