How is It Fair...?

**By Lynn Cull **

Hello everyone. My name is Lynn and I am the mother of two beautiful daughters ages eight and three. My eight year old recently came to me with the desire to play softball. So, one day after school I took her up to the local park get some information on try outs. Much to my surprise there were no try outs. All she had to do was sign up. No one knew what her strengths and weaknesses were so how were they supposed to know what position to play her at? Well, she wanted to play so I signed her up.

Later, her first game day rolls around. My husband, three year old daughter and I sit in the bleachers to watch her play. She gets up to bat and we all cheer for her. She hits the ball all the way to the fence. She easily made it around all the bases to score a run. But I look around and there is no score being kept, not for either team. After the game, I asked the coach why no one was keeping score. He quickly said "There are no winners or losers here. We don't want to discourage any the children. We want to be fair to everyone."

My question to you is "How is it fair?" How is it fair to the one's who work hard and excel not to be acknowledged? How is it fair to the children who score runs on the field not to be acknowledged by keeping score? We are so worried about hurting the other person's feelings who didn't or couldn't do some good we are not congratulating the one's who actually do something good. After all, aren't sports supposed to foster competitive spirit along with comradeship? I am worried that we are sending a message to our children that it doesn't matter how hard you work, no one cares. The person next to you is doing the minimum required and gets the same reward, so why bother?

So, I leave you with this question; How is it Fair?