Not always a winner

Today, my little girl came home and told me how happy she was for her friends at school for winning the coloring contest. "They were really neat," she said as she showed me her turkey picture. She told me hers was pretty neat too and that she didn't color outside the lines too much. Hold the phones. Are you telling me your teacher is awarding children for coloring inside the lines??? I'm about to get all hippie and lose it. Why are you going to stymie my child's creativity? Why put her in a box and not let her express herself? Why award the little Stepford kids who do it just so? Hmm. Am I regressing? Am I remembering the Flag Day contest from so many years ago where a child from each grade won a prize if they colored the best American flag? I'm sure I never won that one! What is wrong with me? I'm a huge fan of coloring inside the lines. I don't like messy papers, that is for sure. So why am I getting so upset? Here is my five-year-old showing me such grace and telling me how wonderful it is that her friends won that day even though she didn't. My heart is breaking! When is my daughter going to win the contest? When will she be student of the week or the school star or whatever they get these days??!! I should be seeing the good in this situation, right? I should be appreciating the fact that my daughter is not a sore loser and praising her for her wonderful attitude and her beautiful picture, but all I can think about is Why not her? Well, because not everyone can be a winner all the time. We've been programmed to thinking that every kid gets a trophy. There are no outs. Everyone gets up to bat. No one ever loses. That's not how life is, so why are we teaching our children this? Should we let them go through life thinking that they will never lose anything and then let the harsh reality smack them in the face once they get out of elementary school? I'm glad I held my tongue and didn't say anything about the coloring contest. Turns out, the teacher doesn't choose the best by who stays inside the lines. She picks the kids' names out of a hat! As Billie Jean said, Fair is Fair.