An incisive piece by Janet Albrechtsen on how current trends to protect children from even mild emotional or physical challenges sets them up for profound difficulties in adult life.

In the “all must have prizes” era, merit cards are awarded to children by well-meaning teachers for the most mundane things. At the age of five or six, my son received a merit card “for spelling approximations”. How brilliant he was for mastering a word with so many syllables! Alas, “spelling approximations” meant he spelled other, much shorter words close enough to the correct spelling to earn a merit card at his well-meaning “all must have prizes” school.

via Our kids are covered in bubble wrap | The Australian.