Anonymous wrote:Teens and young adults these days are WAY too sheltered, spoiled, lazy, immature, and lack grit and resilience (the two most important characteristics for success!). I put my kids into sports not to help with college admissions or scholarships, but because sports participation builds grit, resilience, character, the ability to work through tough times, and the ability to bounce back from failure when things aren't going your way.
I'm also a hiring manager and oversee recent college grads/workers in their 20s (early Gen Z/late Gen Y). The VAST majority of people in this age range lack grit and resilience, and they are a major PITA for most workplaces. The sheer lack of grit, resilience, and the ability to persevere when times are tough among recent college grads these days is depressingly low, so I know by pushing my kids in sports (even though I know they're nowhere near good enough to get recruited), I'm doing them a world of favors.
I don't normally post on the Sports forum -- I mainly stick to the Jobs forum and the Real Estate forum. However, this post in the Jobs & Careers forum stuck out to me:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1071777.page
TL DR: Spoiled Ivy League kid is pissed she has to take out $80k in loans and doesn't want to stay at her (elite, prestigious) Ivy since it's "too stressful" and "too competitive" and "too cutthroat" and yadda yadda yadda all that BS. It is painfully obvious that this girl's parents never put her in team sports (or any team activity, really) where she had to fail and bounce back from disappointing losses to build grit and resilience. This spoiled young woman is unable to bounce back from her negativity and constant whining to rise above and lead and create a positive outlook on an objectively amazing opportunity that 99% of Americans would kill to have. But no, like so many sheltered DMV rich kids I see, she insists on having everything perfectly catered to her snowflake sensibilities.
And THAT is why I put my kids in sports -- to build a competitive spirit, to learn to win and lose gracefully, and to build their ability to stick through undesirably situations. I know that they won't end up like the navel-gazing OP of the thread above since I push them in team sports.
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