When you think of a trophy what comes to your mind? Hard work? Dedication? That proud feeling knowing the job was done well? Unfortunately those days are long behind us. First came the days of the participation trophy. This is something I really couldn’t get behind but I understood why some people liked the idea. After all – you did pay for your child to participate and they showed up all year. But, this past spring a local non competitive dance school took the trophy to a whole new low when they offered parents the choice to purchase trophy. In addition, the trophy could be customized how ever the parent wished.
This became a symbol of whose parents loved them more.
To make matters worse the order sheet was left posted on the studio wall for all to see.
My children did not receive a dance trophy this year but instead they learned some valuable life lessons. The biggest of them all was the lesson that you can’t buy love. The lack of purchasing a hunk of plastic did not mean I loved them any less. I also taught them what a trophy is suppose to mean and that one day if they ever win one it will be all the more special because it would be their first.
