Random nothings!

So this lil girl came running to her Mother, with excitement, as she stood tall with 2 silver medals and a bronze medal, at her school sports meet. The Mother, simply asked her, "Why did you not get the gold medal'?, This without a hug, a smile or an acknowledgement. The lil girl's face dropped immediately, and the excitement of winning just sank. Sadly, I witnessed the whole episode. And also was thoroughly confused, between encouraging and pushing. If the Mother had said, "Wow!! Well done!! Am so proud of you, next time make that little effort, and you might come first". That probably would have left the child happy and motivated to do better. Instead, she chose to just dampen the spirits of the child by totally dismissing her efforts.  The one thing that I remember telling my son was to participate, to test your own abilities. Not to win or lose. As that doesn't matter. Somebody has to lose, that is why somebody wins. And I explained further, t