Little People, Big Fans: Making Sports a Family Affair

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When my daughter was not yet two, her daycare teacher told us she’d been talking about “Steve Nash and Amar’e” at school one day. Last Summer she requested Take Me Out To the Ball Game as her lullaby every night. This past Fall she could not only sing Bear Down, Chicago Bears in its entirety, she also knew the difference between a fumble and an interception (thanks to, ahem, a certain Bears QB who gave us plenty of teaching examples). And just the other day, at not quite three years old, she asked, “Mom, are the Cubbies on TV today?”

Oh, and my ten-month-old just said his first word: BALL.

Being a sports fan is a pretty big deal in our house. It’s also been a way for my superfan of a husband and me to share something that’s important to us with our kids. Sure, things have to shift a bit when little fans come along (fewer tailgate parties, more logo-emblazoned onesies), but rooting for the home team (or your home-away-from-home team) alongside your little ones can create meaningful bonds and lasting traditions for the whole family.

Here are some of my thoughts on including kids in your cheering section:

Include & Explain
Too often we assume little kids won’t understand the things we’re interested in and, as a result, we don’t take the time to explain things in an age-appropriate way. Being a sports fan provides all kinds of teaching opportunities: strikes and downs are about counting, penalties are about rules and fairness, uniforms are about recognizing numbers and colors, mascots are about animals…you get the idea. With older kids, take the time to really explain the game you’re so passionate about; the more they understand, the more they’ll want to share in the watching and rooting with you.

Adjust Your Expectations
Obviously, if you’re taking the time for conversations like the ones above, you’re not going to watch an entire game uninterrupted. Welcome to parenthood (and God Bless TiVo)! I’m guessing you’ve had to adjust your expectations about a few other things, too (like your definition of “early morning”), so why should sports be any different? We used to watch Sunday NFL games at a sports bar every week, but with two little ones we now have fun making our own game-day snacks and watching at home.

Keep Your Emotions in Check
Last year we were watching the Masters golf tournament as a family and our then barely-two-year-old was really getting into watching the little white ball go into the hole. When my husband and I both reacted with a dramatic “Oh, no!” to Fred Couples’ ball missing the green and rolling into the water, she burst into tears! She couldn’t separate our extreme reaction to the golf game from something she should be genuinely worried or upset about. Being passionate about your team is one thing, but keep in mind that little eyes, little ears and little hearts will take your shouting, table thumping and (eek!) swearing pretty seriously. Definitely include your little ones in your high fives and victory laps – they’ll love nothing more – just keep an eye on their reactions to your reactions to make sure they understand where you’re coming from.

Vary the Venue
My favorite place to watch any sporting event is from my couch (no bathroom line! no shoes required!), but kids will love and remember seeing a live game. In Phoenix we’re lucky enough to have pro baseball, basketball, football and hockey PLUS opportunities to watch golf, tennis, soccer, college sports, you name it. Whether you splurge on the big-ticket pro games or just check out a local high school team, make sure the kids get to see the game played live as well as on TV.

The Arizona Diamondbacks website has a whole page devoted to their youngest fans – check it out!

Don’t Just Watch…Play!
Kids learn by doing! What better way to develop gross motor skills than to get outside and act out – physically – your favorite plays from the game? In this case I’m not talking about pee-wee soccer or Little League, just kicking-throwing-running-jumping-crawling-rolling yourself and a ball-shaped object around the backyard. While singing your team’s fight song, naturally. 🙂 You might also check out a family-oriented sports park like Scottsdale’s CrackerJax where you can hit the batting cages or play a round of mini-golf with your mini-fans.

Look For The Lessons
There is plenty wrong with professional sports these days. A few hugely compensated superstars make news for acting like first-class crybabies (or worse) and it’s easy to get cynical about passing on the legacy of fandom to our kids. But I think there are as many positive lessons to be taught and learned from sports as there are negative – if we frame the conversation the right way. From the simplest examples of counting and colors I talked about earlier, to complex discussions of sportsmanship, teamwork, overcoming adversity, gender and racial equality, addiction, and redemption, being a parent and a sports fan provides great material for dialogue, learning and bonding with our kids.

What a sporty week we have coming up! Major League Baseball is here! NCAA Championship tonight (Go UConn!)! PGA Masters this weekend! What will you be watching? How do you include your kids in your sports-watching fun?

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Sarah Powers is a writer and Scottsdale mom of two. She came to the valley from Southern California by way of Chicago and would take Arizona summers over Midwest winters any day. A perfect day for Sarah starts with coffee, ends with chardonnay and includes lots of baby giggles and sticky-fingered kid kisses in between. She loves high ponytails, showtunes and using her kids as an excuse to stay in and go to bed early, which she would do anyway. Sarah tweets early and often about the messy, tender, fun, funny and irreverent moments of parenthood at www.twitter.com/powersofmine.

1 COMMENT

  1. When trying to explain sports rules to a little kid you want to stick with the basics. Don’t try to explain a complex play until they understand the general idea. Sometimes the basics is all they need until they want to play themselves.

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