Pink

The girl's face is flushed. 

Her cheeks are stained with tears and her eyes pink with hurt and maybe embarrassment.

As my eyes caught hers for a moment we connected. 

I immediately wanted to cry.

I turned away, reaching for my phone to type. If I looked any longer I would be in tears to match hers. 

Had she not listened?

Was she a disappointment? 

Her strong and well-defined pre-teen body seems to wither under her frail emotional state.  

Her coach is non-plussed- paying attention to another gymnast on a nearby beam. He is the young coach who always has a serious look on his face (and who Lloyd and I agree looks like John Mayer).

 I hear him call her:

"Kristin"

She turns cautiously his way.  What he says I cannot hear though she seems to respect his words and immediately moves into motion despite his unaffected face showing no sympathy to her pink face.

Where does sympathy lie? 

I think on a conversation my colleagues and I had recently- "the millennials... They think they're entitled to everything and have earned nothing... Getting trophies just for showing up..."

Is inducing tears the way to raise a non-millennial? To not serve up praise for trying or consolation when something falls apart? 

To say, as my colleague jokingly quipped "we are not all winners- you are either a winner or a loser".

How can I raise a non-millennial?

I look across the room at another young male coach. 

He is offering high fives in abundance. 

Do I want the high-five coach or the unaffected coach for my daughter, who I want to see smile and not have a pink, tear-stained face?

Is there a happy medium? Anywhere between unaffected and unconditionally supportive? 

So many questions.