Winning, winning, winning-we will try to do almost everything to make this happen, even if it’s just a child’s game, won’t we? Parents always wants best for their children. Well, there is nothing wrong with that, but perhaps sometimes adults push boundaries to far. They don’t really understand long-term consequences for their kids. Paying children for scoring goals is existent and perhaps a growing situation in youth football. Someone may ask: What’s wrong with this? Well, I am not here to judge anybody. I am trying to make you aware of negative consequences on child development in future.
Here they are:
Children who often get paid for scoring goals will getting used to a bad habit of only doing something if there is a materialistic reward. When they grow, they less likely being able to put the effort that required to achieved any success in life not just football. Moreover, they are less likely to be able to compete with children who are motivated by just doing something they love (playing football)- intrinsic motivation.
When a kid is paid for scoring goals, the only thing he/she will be focusing on is just putting the ball in the net. That means they will refuse to pass the ball to a teammate who is in a better position and will be very selfish on the pitch. This will affect his/her decision-making process and as a consequence not really help the team achieve the best possible results in the game.
If a child is unable to score, his/her psychological development will be affected. Since the only thing that matters is scoring a goal, the child won’t have fun, will rarely smile and will have negative thoughts that affect not only this individual but everyone around it.
The game itself should always value collective effort to achieve success and improve any individual player without compromising any materialistic rewards.
The child most likely will refuse or be reluctant to play in different positions on the pitch. This will also mean they will not be able to learn an import life skill such as adaptation to a different circumstance both on the pitch and in future life.
Adults often lose sight of what the long-term values of the organization or the club their child plays the game at are. Rather than applaud organization values that meet children needs, they chose to focus on their own needs, that have little to do to develop the child personality.
Let me conclude with this quote: “we are not just teachers, we are the managers of the world’s greater resource-children” Robert John Meehan
