I heard on the radio this morning two families are suing a local hockey league for the physiological damages suffered by their 15-year-old boys when the teens were cut from their hockey teams.
I think the boys may suffer from more psychological damage when their friends and peers find out who they are and torment them not being able to handle being cut.
This ridiculous story – and I hope the judge slams the parents for wasting people’s time and money – is part of the problem with today’s kids.
Many of today’s youth have a sense of entitlement, a feeling they should get what they want when they want it without having to work for it.
It makes working with these people difficult and frustrating. It also makes for a tough reality when these children realize some people get what they want and others don’t, and their future isn’t as easy as they expected.
This story also angers me because these hockey parents have made it about them. Did it really cause their children psychological damage or are they embarrassed their sons couldn’t cut it?
If these parents don’t think their children can handle the emotional scarring of being cut from a team, then they should not sign their children up for anything that involves a skill whether that is sports, music, the arts or a job.
Case in point. When I worked a newspaper northeast of the city, I hosted contests. As a fan of Halloween, I hosted a writing contest, asking kids to pen a spooky Halloween story.
I awarded the winner and printed his story in the local newspaper. A parent, whose child did not win, called me and proceeded to yell at me, claiming her child’s story was better and deserved to win. She also went on to tell me the other child (please note, child) obviously plagiarized her piece.
Parents were also known to call the editor to ask if their child could work with us. The editor always politely told the women – note mothers – their children should make the phone call if they were actually interested in a job.
Parents, I understand we want to save our children from disappointment and heartache, however, life is not always a happy place. Sometimes it’s filled with disappointment.
Demanding our children never be cut from a team, always win a prize and get what they want creates an unrealistic world, and one where children haven’t been able to really live.
A Special Thank You
Alex from Ma, What's for Dinner awarded me the Versatile Blogger Award Friday. With the short deadlines because of Canada Day Thursday and this story, I haven't had a chance to properly thank her, which I will do tomorrow.
In the meantime, thank you, Alex, I am honoured.
7 comments:
Great title! I totally agree that so many parents set up their children for difficult lives because they never let them fall down, get hurt, or fail. Failing only makes you try harder next time.
Great post and congrats on your award!
Cheers :-)
- CoconutPalmDesigns
Ooooh, I HATE parents like that. I think that fostering that sense of entitlement and fighting to keep our children from experiencing any negative emotions whatsoever is the biggest parenting mistake. It leads to horribly spoiled, entitled children that inevitably turn into horribly spoiled, entitled adults.
Whew! I seem to have a lot to SAY about this topic!
Parents are setting their kids up for major disappointment and failure down the road. It's sad and angering at the same time!
That's so ridiculous. But, it's the culture today- of not hurting anyone's feelings and letting them all belong. When I was a kid, only the best made teams(not counting as a small child) and we learned t work harder if we really wanted to be on a team.
Absolutely ridiculous. Of course we want to protect our children, but we are also supposed to prepare them for the rest of their lives and for the real world. It's hard for children not to have a sense of entitlement when parents are creating this environment for them.
omg, what is happening in this world today. my god do parents not understand that they need to teach and help their children to deal with life's inevitable disappointments. Nice sum up of this in your blog today.
I completely agree with you here, even though I am guilty of this parenting attitude. I try to be conscious of this, and here's where DH comes in handy! He is way better at letting them feel life's disappointments, thank goodness!! It's hard as a parent to watch your child suffer in any way at all, which is what leads to this "entitlement" eventually. So I really try to keep that in the forefront of my mind now, especially since that boys are getting older. I also linked to your post in my blog, just so you know.
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