No Participation Trophies! Why We Made Our Kids Run a 5K

Welcome back to Rollin with the Dolans! In this episode, we dive into kids and sports—how much should parents push their kids to be active? Should kids be required to participate in sports even if they don’t want to? We break down our real-life experiences, including Patrick taking all four of our younger kids on a mandatory 5K (semi-mandatory, as he calls it) and the mixed reactions from others about our approach.

We discuss:
✅ The balance between encouraging kids and forcing them into activities
✅ How to support kids' athletic pursuits without burnout
✅ Whether participation trophies are a good or bad thing
✅ Why staying active should be a lifestyle, not just for athletes

Should parents make kids participate in sports? Should every child get a trophy? Drop your thoughts in the comments!

📌 Chapters:
0:00 - Welcome & Today’s Topic
2:10 - Why Our Kids Had to Run a 5K
6:45 - Should Parents Push Kids Into Sports?
12:20 - How to Support Kids Without Burnout
17:35 - Participation Trophies: Yes or No?
22:10 - Encouraging Kids to Be Active
28:00 - Final Thoughts & Wrap-Up

💬 Let’s keep the conversation going! Find us on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram for more real-life discussions on family, marriage, and parenting.

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 #KidsAndSports #ParentingTalk #ActiveKids #BlendedFamily #InterracialMarriage #FamilyPodcast #RaisingKids #NoParticipationTrophies #HealthyLifestyle #RollinWithTheDolans 

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Transcript

0:01

Welcome to Rollin with the Dolans. I'm Patrick Dolan and I'm Tameka Dolan. Our podcast focuses on the joys and challenges of blending families, our interracial marriage, parenting children of multiple ages, and the journey of entrepreneurship. We share our daily life experiences with a positive but real perspective. And today's topic is focused on kids and sports. Okay. Alright, I'm gonna start. Is that okay? Yeah. Okay, so this past Saturday Patrick took all four of our small kids on a 5k. And it was mandatory that they go. Semi mandatory. You didn't give them a choice. If they severely, if they really objected, I would consider it. But it was pretty much, it was expected, I think would be a better word. Okay, so thankfully all the kids participated and it wasn't like we had to pull a leg to do it. But, I wanted to talk about this on the podcast because when I talked to a couple of my clients about it there was like some mixed, views on it. Probably let's start, let's rewind back and say what your involvement is in running. So I've been doing it probably since I was about 9, so I've been doing it for over 40 years and that's in a similar way my dad would be like, Oh, there's a 5k coming up. So I, basically a week or two ahead of time, I might do a little bit of training and stuff like that and get, but it was just relaxed. It was fun. It was I was never felt pressured to do well. It was just going out there and having a good time basically. Okay. So because your past or in current, not, because you still run. And my clients said, no, you were like not everybody just one was like just because he likes running doesn't mean that the kids would like it too. And my response was How can it hurt them that they're having to get up and leave the house by 8 a. m. to go do a race? What would your response be? I don't expect them to like it. And I don't expect them to, try to push themselves during it. It's more or less you just get out there. It's three miles. I believe that, basically up to the point that you're 70, 80, I think you should be able to go and, Walk three miles if you have to. So it's just go out there, you're with other people. It's a different experience. It's a different event. It's easier to go walk three miles when you're surrounded by hundreds of people. Then when you're just going out there and say, Hey, go walk three miles to the neighborhood. So it's just, it's more or less to get used to being able to go out there and do something that could be minor. So yeah, I gained them to push themselves and gain them to, basically try to win the thing that's different. So I don't go that far. we should also add that all of them are athletes, and so my dad told all of them that because you guys are athletes, you should always be conditioning, so it wasn't just you that were pushing them, it was my dad, too, which I agree. Do you agree with him? I go a little bit beyond that. I don't think you have to be an athlete to, to, Be to the point where you should be able to exercise for 45 minutes once a week. Yeah, because I'm not an athlete, but I do exercise, but I do exercise. Okay. Mr. Dolan has made some questions that you got from chat GPT. Did I say it right? Yeah. Just some random things based on the topic. Yeah, okay. And there's I don't know, like 50 of them, but the one that stuck out to me is, and he doesn't know the question. You ready for it? Oh, I'm ready. Okay. How can parents support their children's athletic pursuits without causing undue stress or burnout? That's being flexible. I think that we are very flexible for, not pushing. For one, we had one kid who wanted to play soccer. And, did I expect him to be playing in Europe as a professional? No. Let him go at his own pace when he was done with it. He was done. I wanted him to do something else because I think that, you need to be active and doing things, but, I didn't think that he had to keep pursuing, club soccer. Okay. That's fair. That's fair. But, do you agree that if they commit to a sport, they have to commit to a sport? For that season, at least. Okay, so what does that mean? I think that, like if, once you sign up and you try out and you're like part of the team, then you have to be trying. I don't think you just, oh, okay, I'm just gonna sit there and, play video games on my phone while everybody else is practicing. Okay. Alright. That was my only question I thought this was a good topic because I assume that it was a great thing that you made the kids go out and Participate. I think the only pushback is that it was 8am, but to actually get out and participate wasn't a problem. It was just 8am and it was cool out that they weren't fans of. I have more questions. Oh. Oh. Okay. So I feel like I've, Done a little bit too much talking in this one, so a little bit for you. So what do you think if you have kids who would rather stay at home and not do any sports, even though you do believe that they have some athletic talent and should be That would be a hard no for me. That would be a hard no. They would have to get up and be active. Okay, and Yes. How would you persuade them? If you take some devices away And some things that they enjoy, magically, they want to get out and participate in a sport. And here's one that I know the answer to, but how do you feel about participation trophies? That would be a hard no as well. You are required to participate and everyone does not get a trophy. And what do you think? Oh yeah definitely. The funny thing also, I mentioned I've been running for forever it wasn't until 10 to 15 years ago, they started giving anybody who finishes a 5k a medal. I'm not completely opposed to that, because I think that some people it's a big deal too, but It used to be like, okay, you'll get a medal if you finish a marathon. That's about it. Maybe a half marathon, but more of a larger achievement. Now it's like everybody gets a medal. And that one, like I said, I'm in between on, but, I would want a medal if I ran a half marathon, and obviously I wouldn't have the same pace as you have. Yeah, I would want you to have a medal for half marathons. That's what I said it used to always be, half marathons, was like a pinnacle. I'm gonna shoot to try to do that, and then once you get to that achievement, you get that medal. And then a marathon, definitely, you've been getting medals forever. But it was more recent years, they'll do it for a 5k. And they'll do it for shorter races, they'll give you a medal. But, to me yeah, those would usually just get thrown in a box, but it's different, but at the same time, if you're going to do one 5K a year, and if that medal helps encourage them to do more hey, I want more of these medals, then I would say, hey, that's a good idea, keep giving them a medal so that's what it's all about, is trying to get people to, to want to do the things and keep doing them so they can maintain a healthy lifestyle. I agree. Alright, let's wrap this up. Okay. All right, you go ahead. You want to wrap it up? The main thing is what we like to say is tune in next time. Look for us in, wherever you find your podcasts and add us to your list so you can hear us again soon. And we do some things on other social media, YouTube, TikTok, and we love to, get people involved in our conversations. So if you see us posted there as well, chime in and give us your thoughts. And until then. Have an absolutely wonderful week have oh my goodness. Do you hear the dog? Okay, have did you say what was your edit? I just did wonderful. What do you say Kuma? Do you want to talk Kuma? No. No, he wants to lick the microphone Okay, so have a magnificent week and until next time