Originally Posted by tetonrider

so, my little boy likes to run, and he happens to be a bit faster than the other kids in his pre-school. on the playground the other day the kids did a race, and afterwards the kid who finished 2nd was talking about how he won. the teachers said "you ALL won!"

my kid said, "2nd place is pretty good, but it's not the same as winning."

i was so proud.

i'm the parent who has been going against the "everyone gets a medal" mentality. i didn't realize my kid was paying so much attention, though. (he came up to me after a bike race where i'd finished 2nd and asked me if i had won.)

some of my best lessons have been from a$$-kickings, and where is the shame in working as hard as possible and coming up a bit short? winning is a goal to strive for, not something to be handed out to everyone.

they don't even keep score at youth soccer around here. "both teams won. yay!" yeah, no.