How can you be ready for something when you do not prepare for it? If you do not prepare for something, how can you expect to know how to handle it when it occurs?

Children do not lose when they are young nor do they fail. Everyone gets a participation trophy. Although well intentioned, this approach simply prepares children to be unprepared. When the child advances to higher-level sports like high school or travel teams, the drama unleashes when they do not make the team. They cannot deal with the reality and parents, more often than not, find “reasons” to explain the shortcoming.

The answer is simple. Other people are better at that activity and made the team.

Children need to learn how to handle failure and there is only one-way to accomplish that feat. As parents, we are not protecting children by trying to soften the blow. Ironically, we are setting them up for failure. People fail more often than not in life and most are not basket cases. In learning to fail, people face three truths:

The first is a failure is not synonymous with self-worth. It is failing at something you tried. Thomas Edison said, ““I never failed once, it just happened to be a 2000-step process.” He also said, “I haven’t failed, I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” It is all in perspective

The second truth is a person who fails has a choice; work harder to become better or realize it is time to try something else. There is nothing wrong with either choice. The third truth is failing at something does not make you a failure. It makes you human.

This behavior creates a society incapable of handling things for itself, which translate to a populace reliant on government for assistance. People unprepared to handle life will always take the easy way out when Uncle Obama offers a handout.

President Obama is suggesting four-year olds should start going to school to help “better prepare them.” I suggest we keep our children away from the government and do our parental duty of preparing them for life. We need to teach our children morals, principles, and how to function in society. We need to show them how to handle the good, the bad, and the ugly.