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James Harrison recently took away his children's participation trophies because they hadn't earned them. Is he right for teaching them about the real world or did he go to far? Our #SlayedorShade panel weighs in.
Transcript
00:00Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison made huge waves on social media with his most
00:07recent Instagram post for wanting to give back his son's athletic participation trophies
00:11because they didn't earn real ones. His caption read,
00:16I came home to find out that my boys received two trophies for nothing,
00:20participation trophies. While I am very proud of my boys for everything they do
00:24and will encourage them till the day I die, these trophies will be given back until they
00:28earn a real trophy. He continues, I'm sorry. I'm not sorry for believing that everything in life
00:33should be earned. And I'm not about to raise two boys to be men by making them believe that they
00:37are entitled to something just because they tried their best. Okay. So is this a slay? Because
00:43James is teaching his sons the fundamentals of life. You're not always going to get rewarded for
00:47behavior that is essentially expected of you. Or is this a shade? Participation awards act as
00:52positive reinforcement and there's no harm in that. All right, here we go. On the count of three,
00:56is this slate or shade? One, two, three. Oh, we have a slate, a shade, and a shade. Okay,
01:01Laura, we'll start with you. Why is this a slate? Okay, listen, this was my daddy. That's my daddy
01:04all day. That's how I was raised. My dad would be like, oh, you fell? Come over here so I can pick
01:09you up. I was like, no, he definitely was like, look, that's cute, but you have to work harder.
01:13And honestly, that's how I was raised. I always felt like, and it actually encouraged me to work
01:18harder when I saw other people win. And I'd be like, you know what? That's going to be next time.
01:21Let me learn where I failed. Let me learn from my mistakes and let me bust my butt so next time
01:26I'm going to be that winner. That's fair enough. That's fair enough. Ray?
01:30I said it was shade simply because they participate, they get up, they're on time,
01:35they go to practice. You got to spend all that money for uniforms. I might have been the best
01:39player. They might have sucked, but I did my part. I feel like the team should still get some type of
01:45recognition for participating and putting forth the effort, even though they're not the overall
01:50champion. Okay. So to take the trophy away, no. My daddy would have been like, well, you won an award for
01:55getting up and eating breakfast. You know what I mean? Your daddy sounds like my daddy.
02:00You paid your bills, that's what you're supposed to do.
02:03Abiola, you have a shade?
02:04I say shade 100%. Now, I'm from a family where if you got a 95, they said, what happened to the
02:09other five points?
02:10Uh-oh. Right.
02:10However, as a coach, as a life coach, I have to say that, you know, yes, we do get empowerment
02:17from accomplishments. However, James, the way is not to shame your children. Take it up
02:21with the school board.
02:22Oh, right.
02:23She said, take it up with the school board.
02:24Because the other kids are going to still have their participation trophy and they're not
02:27going to have anything.
02:28They're going to feel left off.
02:29But I think it's just your job as a parent to explain to them why you're doing this.
02:33You know, so I can see each his own conversation.
02:35And keep the trophies.
02:36She's like, keep the trophies.
02:38Okay.
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