Apparently I Feel The Need To Share This With A Larger Audience

This was going to be (mostly, the long one is from facebook) just a twitter rant. But I think I may have either gone exactly where I needed to go with it, or took it too far. Either way, I’ve decided to copy and paste it up here, unedited (except maybe spelling). Some reason in my head, it fits here. That or I’m due for a blog post and oh look. Either.

Did seriously just show a program where the rules of musical chairs were changed so EVERYONE could get a chair?

What are we teaching our kids, ? How about teaching kids to lose graciously instead?

Kids who don’t know how to lose turn into adults who don’t know how to lose and isn’t helping.

. The way kids are coddled today is going to cost society tomorrow. *shakes head*

If you think congress is bad now, just wait until today’s children who don’t know how to lose with grace get a turn there.

Hey ! You are teaching our future congressmen, senators and president! How about we aim for grace and dignity!

. Or are we suppose to coddle the congress of tomorrow even more so than we already do the congress of today?

Apparently I’m on my soapbox today.

I’m for giving all kids an equal chance to succeed (on the field, in school). But if a kid can’t keep up, maybe they should be left behind.

Survival of the fittest, evolution, call it what you want. Obvious exceptions where obvious exceptions should be made, of course.

And if a child is lazy and refusing to do anything… move on to a child who actually cares. Someone has to flip our burgers… (Please note, none of this applies to disabled kids. Autistic children, for example, deserve the above and beyond extra help. Most of them are actually trying and earn it. But if a kid is spending high school getting drunk, high, and all without ever opening a book, flunk their asses if they can’t pull the grades. Fuck this no kid left behind bullshit. Oh and don’t blame the teachers for it.)

PS I gladly kick my kid’s butt when we play games. He ends up trying harder. Makes my eventual loss more satisfying for us both.

I wouldn’t say he has mastered losing with grace, but it is a lesson we are actively working on at our house! And there has been progress!

*gets off soap box*

Please note I’m normally a HUGE fan of NickJr. Fine, I could live without the lisping duck, and Dora gets annoying after about the first 5 minutes. But it’s educational and teaches some great lessons. Shit, my oldest learned more from NickJr than he did from preschool! Not because his preschool was lacking, but because NickJr got to him first! Aside from numbers, colors, shapes, Spanish, etc, they also teach some great morals and values in their shows! Which is why I was so blindsided by today’s program and why I didn’t take it so well. Just seemed like the opposite of the lesson NickJr would normally teach.

PS, the damn koala that kept being out in the first round of musical chairs, wasn’t even trying to get a chair until after everyone else had gotten one. Then he got pissy he was out. Then they changed the rules. Great lesson there NickJr!

7 thoughts on “Apparently I Feel The Need To Share This With A Larger Audience

  1. What were you watching? Ni-hao, Ki Lan? that's the only show I can think of with a koala on it. Regardless, I feel the same way you do as far as coddling children. Today's little leagues, whether it be soccer, baseball whatever; If they're under like age 9 they don't keep score because someone would have to lose. WHAT?!?!?

  2. That would indeed be the show. And I'm normally pretty ok with it. I've seen most the episodes because for awhile it was Luke's favorite. And up until this one, I've had no issue with them. Which is another reason why this whole no one loses thing floored me. I'm not going to boycott the show or anything over it. One miss in a series of hits, is still pretty good odds. But oh holy cow, WTF NickJr?

    And when they get old enough to keep score? Even last place gets a trophy because everyone wins! Uh no, not how that works. When these little leaguers reach the pros, they won't be coddled and trophied when they lose.

    Tell them the did a great job and it showed they worked hard! Tell them how proud you are of them for trying so hard! Encourage them to congratulate the winning team! Work hard at the next practice and learn from what went wrong. Take them out for pizza to celebrate their hard work, even though they didn't win! But DON'T sugar coat the fact that the lost. They lost. Period. Making everyone a winner shows shame in losing. And there is no shame in doing your best but the other team doing better. As long as you, you know, actually did your best.

    How can you learn from a loss if no one lost?

    How can you learn to process and cope with defeat if you weren't defeated?

  3. Just realized the irony. The nickjr show in question is Chinese culture based. Pretty sure "everyone wins" is the opposite of what they teach. I might be wrong, but the Chinese don't seem the type to overly coddle their children. Which is a good thing, in my book.

  4. When my son was a kid Mr. Rogers was still on TV and so was Barney. I couldn't stand Barney and although many people can't tolerate Mr. Rogers, Kev liked him and as I watched the show I liked him too, he was all about teaching things like appreciation, gratefulness, kindness, wonder at nature, etc.

    I agree with your rant. I have a huge rant in my head that is similar but I have never had the guts to post it. Someday I will.

  5. Most kids shows are annoying as hell. They almost have to be to appeal to kids. I'm willing to ignore them as long as my kids are getting something from them. I grew up on Mr Rogers. And Sesame Street. OMG Sesame Street. The things I learned from that 1 hour every day! Nick Jr is pretty much just like that, only all day long. Some of the shows are annoying as all get out, but they all have a redeeming value in what they teach. If you look past the lisping duck.

    I am, however, very grateful I'm too old to have been young enough for Barney and when my kids were born, Barney wasn't nearly as popular.

  6. My only Barney exposure was at Grandma Kay's house when I was not quite a teenager because of younger cousins not taking no for an answer.

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