Children need to be taught that in the real world there will be times when they will succeed and there will be times win they will fail. It is very important to teach them through competition, sports and play how to win and lose gracefully, how to hold their head high with pride even if they lose, not to gloat or rub their winnings in another's face, how to be great team mates through good sportsmanship, how to pick themselves up and try again until they get it right, the great feeling that if they don't get it right than it was not from lack of trying or from giving up, and to always be mindful that there must be a balance maintained between always winning and always losing. If kids get participation medals then everyone wins all of the time so they do not learn that anything worth having is worth working hard to obtain and they grow up to be spoiled little brats that thinks the world owes them something! They will also get frustrated because they can't always win anymore like they did when they were young, start thinking that there is something wrong with them and they will give up on everything that they can not be number one at because always winning as a child will give them a distorted view of what the real world is supposed to be like then when they grow up and see that they are the different ones in adulthood they will not have the tools to cope with that and that is the biggest set up for failure of all! This is much crueler than letting them get their little hearts broken from time to time and having them experience a little damage to their pride. In fact the adults insisting on all kids getting something just for participating are selfish! They are only thinking about themselves having hurt feelings because they have to watch their kids have these life lessons but as adults we have to teach our children that life is not fair so for you self indulging adults who are creating ruthless little brats and releasing them on everyone else in the world who live life by life's rules suck it up and grow up! LIFE IS NOT FAIR!!!!