* Crossing guards at intersections
with traffic lights.
* Sheltering children from the concept of winning and losing. Case in point, my company picnic where the youngest children played a game of musical chairs and each "winner" (i.e., loser) was given a prize when they failed to get a chair (although I do give them credit for at least playing the game as intended, unlike a version I saw once where there were as many chairs as participants
)
It's all a misguided interpretation of the concept of building self-esteem. There seems to be a belief the one must never let your kid think that they can't lose or do anything wrong at anything ever. THAT'S not the definition of self esteem, and sheltering them will simply leave them unequipped for times in life when they will, inevitably, indeed lose or do something wrong. Self esteem is instilling in them the idea that
even if they lose, that doesn't affect their self worth. It's not about preventing them from losing, it's about showing them that losing is not a reflection of who they are. All this "everyone's a winner" crap does is teach them that losing is the worst possible thing that can happen, and it simply isn't. Grrrrrr.