We Must Destroy 8th Place Trophies

When you coddle your children, you send a message to them that you don’t believe they are capable. 

Today is a time like no other in history in which more people than ever both love and kinda hate their parents. A lot of this is due to one attribute: privilege.

Make no mistake, an individual can be privileged without being a trust fund baby. So don’t brush this off and assume it doesn’t apply to you. It most definitely can- maybe even does.

Adversity is an important part of growing up. If you significantly remove that factor, there will be dire consequences. 

Early in a person’s development, adversity acts as a stairway to greatness. Each challenge you face and overcome is a step upwards. When you face the challenges early while the stakes for failure are at their lowest organically they’ll ever be in your life, you’re more prepared for the challenges of adulthood. 

That being said, when the adversity in a challenge or the consequences of negative actions are taken away, preparedness and true greatness are removed as a result. There is no way to have one without the other. 

A seed cannot grow into a tree if you remove the dirt and rock that it must grow through. A football player cannot win the NFL if they become content with 8th place. 

We as adults are so afraid to allow our children to feel the pain of failure that we create trophies to congratulate effort. In the real world, effort will only get you so far. We cannot keep perpetuating to the next generation that they’re automatically entitled to what they want because they tried. That’s, unfortunately, not how the real world works and that’s not giving them the best possible foundation for success.  

Teach your Lion to stare a challenge down like prey. Let them have every opportunity possible to learn what they’re truly capable of. And don’t be afraid of letting them face the consequences of their own negative actions. 

Let them run, let them fall, let them get back up again.