Michelle's Media Blog

I believe that in any child or athlete’s life they will always have as their number one fans their family or friends, but nothing is worse than an over competitive parent. A parent who is very competitive is very hard to deal with and often embarrassing. Have you ever seen any type of child competing in a particular sport and have their wild parent giving pep talks, yelling, or even going as far as holding up cheesy signs. Well these are all symptoms are of an over bearing competitive parent. Media is one of the main causes for an over competitive parent in my eyes. Media constructs the message that to be successful, you have to be a winner. This means winning in every aspect of your life. We all know that clearly this is not always possibly, usually there is always someone who is better then you, but just giving it your all is always worth it. Media puts it in our heads that the only people who will ever get anywhere in life are the ones who constantly win. The media implies that not only will winning help us succeed, but it will improve our reputation and status in life. This is not always true, just because you win something does not mean that you will be a better person. Sadly, this is what many parents believe which leads them to become over competitive. Often they will push their kids past their limits doing anything possible to win. Not only is this unhealthy, but downright mean. No parent should be forcing their child to win by bribery or threats or just plain pressure. Children are too young for this and should be competing to compete against themselves, and not always against others. Many interpret these messages from the media in different ways. When some people see an Olympic medalist, they admire the hard work the athlete must have put in and all of their dedication. Others may be very jealous and do anything in their pathway to get themselves, or their child to become such an amazing athlete as they see in the athletes competing in the Olympics. Often if a parent was not successful in their childhood they will also put more pressure onto their child so they can “relive their dreams”. Most likely, it was the media which put the idea of wanting to be a successful child into their head. Usually in all of the hit TV shows when children compete in anything, they always come out on top and are now the most popular and are able to have such large bragging rights. Which parent does not want their child to be liked by others, so why not force your child to be a winner? Often, media messages such as commercials for winning athletes are produced to sell a product which are endorsed the athlete. By having a winning athlete in the picture, we are made to think that it is such a huge part of how the athlete won, and if we use such a product we will come out on top just like the athlete did. If parents see a commercial for a specific energy drink or protein bar which is endorsed by a gold medal athlete, why would they not purchase this product for their child to consume? Their belief is its only food; it can’t hurt them, so why not see if it will improve my child! Many parents see this as a gateway to help their child win. Some parents take matters into their own hands and the situation goes way out of control. Also I believe that having TV shows where their child can be in the spotlight such as TLC’S “toddlers in Tiaras” is not a positive way to show a child being successful. In this show we continually see the child’s parents trying to coach their 5 year old child into becoming a beauty queen, rather than a child expressing their own wishes to become one. Every “Pageant Mom” seems crazy, and will do anything to make their child win. The mother gets the child ready for hours, practice routines with them, and even does the routine themselves while out in the audience incase their child forgets. This gets over the top very easily especially considering there are so many parents who want their child to win. Not only do they want them to win, they want them to get the top over all grand prize, or the mother is disappointed. At the end the show you see reality TV to the extreme because the show concentrates on televising just the crazy pageant moms fighting with each other over who’s child should have won and how the judging was based. This all relates back to us and the media. We as humans love to watch reality shows. We love to see others in difficult situations and we enjoy being able to point out other’s flaws. When we are able to see others in an argument, it almost makes us forget about what a bad day we have had and focus on them. It takes our mind off our loves and puts us in another world where we as the viewers can just watch in other people’s drama without having to partake in it. Competitive parents are just another shot of reality TV for us.

Here is an article to show you not only if you have but if you are a over competitive parent! http://www.jobeaufoix.com/2010/03/04/competitive-parents-are-you-one/