I agree that its not required simply for taking part and children should not be appluded simply for turning up.

I don’t agree with participations awards because you should learn about winning and losing and it’s bet to start that when the stakes are low. I do agree with acknowledging good behaviour. It might be what we would expect as adults but they’re learning and positive reinforcement can be a great thing as long as it’s not overdone.

I don’t agree with rewarding them at school for just attending. Okay, mark it in their report that they had a perfect attendance record but reward them, no.

I wholeheartedly agree. We are raising a generation of kids who don’t know how not to be rewarded. They have nothing to aspire to. And it’s not only school – this has now spread into Auskick where every child receives a medal, and junior football where at the end of the year they have all the big awards eg. Best & Fairest, Coach’s Award, Best Backman, then every team member ALSO gets a medal. My son’s trophy and medal chest is a joke. We recently talked him through it all as we showed his Dad’s medals and trophies that were actually received for him doing something well. We need to stop this.

I never liked the award system, I would be happy if they skipped it all together.

lol maybe we are all just compensating for the fact that we didn’t get our 8th place trophy’s when we were kids

I agree with country chick, its the balance we need to focus on for kids.

Kids need to learn to loose just as much as they need to be recognised for good works…. we need to get a balance,

Oh, I can’t wait for the weather to be nice enough to get out doors once again. Being outside make my kidlet happy!

This is certainly not preparing the child for the real life out there in the real world.
How about preparing them for losing – a job, an Olympic race, a child?
It’s about time we were more realistic in the goals instead of trying to create Utopia.

I think children should have rewards for respect, caring and team work, important of all a reward for trying his or her best in a particular activity or subject that may be his or her weakness.

my son was at the school for 2 years and never got a reward. hes in grade 5. the teacher had to get my son up to achieve a reward. I have spoken to the teacher about not telling the kids infront of everyone how many rewards they have etc as it came to my son he was the only one that did not have anything and it really embarrassed him. 1 week later after I spoke to the teacher about not saying it infront of the class, he got an reward. I wasn’t happy because I didn’t want him to get a reward for the stake of not having any and that I spoke up. teachers likes to play favourites even though they say they don’t, some parents or kids can see it.

In my opinion, kids need (healthy) competition so they will strive to be the best, instead of settling to do the bare minimum. They need to be challenged so they can find their strength and weaknesses.
People need to set their kids for success, showing them what the real world is like.
We know are kids are perfect, but they need to understand there are rewards for good behaviour and consequences for bad behaviour, anything in between is life.

You cant be there for them every step of their life (i know we wish we could)

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  • • mom93821 replied
    • 14 Jul 2017 , 4:29 pm

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  Well said – I agree with your comments. A parent has the most important role of preparing their child for the real world.

Alot of kids these days act entitled, lack respect and seem to be a little lost to what was before them, but parents keep giving giving and giving without having them earn it, hence they have become out of touch and materialistic.. Yet as a parent i want too for my son to have the best of things because other kids can be cruel so fitting in is assisted by with ones possessions these days.

I think there are too many awards given, but if kids aren’t learning good behaviors at home it’s good that someone, anyone is doing what they can to teach manners. Break the cycle.

our school does, we have Pride awards and Learning Awards – pride awards are normally when a student has shown initiative in respecting their peers, or have done something along the pride values and obviously learning awards are for those that have done extra well at something in particular – and to top it off there are extra special awards for outstanding learning I think they are where the students get morning tea with the principal and deputy principal and a certificate – I think rewarding students individually when it is merited is great for a child’s confidence, but if the teachers feel obligated to give one to each student in their class over the course of the year and they have to find a reason to give them one then it doesn’t seem fair. I think if you put in extra hard work you should get recognised for that, not just because it was your month to get an award!

Our school tries to find a reason to give each kid one reward certificate once through the year. This seems to me o be a good middle road.

My kids get so many rewards it is amazing. My middle boy got a bike from school for his outstanding behaviour. They get reward school dollars for showing up to school and for wearing the right clothes and different rewards in class for things. They can go to the school shop and spend their school dollars. While I think sometimes it’s a bit much they do have to ear everything and understand that and in this area there is a high non attendance and these are the kids their trying to get to come. My partner and I both hated school… my kids love school and are upset if I make them stay home when their sick so it does have good points this new way.

I’m from the Netherlands and when I first was confronted with all these rewards I thought it was bizarre ! My son got once a reward for his beautiful smile !! I agree till a certain extend that attention for good behavior is positive and negative behavior should have less attention.

I do not agree with a mercy rule in sport as it is a game and in every game there is a winner and a loser or sometimes a tie. The important skill is to teach children how to win and how lose and how to play games with respect and dignity. Children need resilience.

Kids these days don’t learn how to lose and the idea of making there no competition in sport is absurd. While I think there are many parents that are over- competitive at the sports, children need to learn friendly competition and that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.