When people talk about the decaying of our society and the weakening of our children, you'll hear some bring up participation trophies. Somehow participation trophies have become a hot topic and a debate in our generation. There are even lawmakers who are setting out to eliminate participation trophies for children in their state.

I could understand this if participation trophies were inherently evil but they are not. They are typically really cheap and poorly made paper weights with misspelled words on them. Somehow people are convinced that these inanimate objects are the culprits weakening our children. 

I want to expose this debate as meaningless today and shift the attention to the real issue. I want dads to realize that they are more powerful than a cheap piece of plastic. I want fathers to understand the power of their voice and influence. Dads, we need to understand that participation trophies do not shape the perspectives of our children. We do.