'It wasn't like that in my day.'

'Kids these days are set up to fail - they're taught to be soft.'

'They're more worried about hurt feelings than they are rewarding kids for being good at something!'

If you haven't heard this kind of banter at a kids' sports day, we suspect you weren't listening...

But is there a reason schools and clubs around the country are so big on handing out participation prizes?

Bond University Assistant Professor Shawna Campbell is a psychologist whose research focuses on the prevention of the development of psychopathology in young people.

We invited her in to answer the question: why are all the kids going home with a prize?