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Super Bowl with kids: do you 'teach' your children to love your team?
Filed under: Just For Moms, Just For Dads, Activities: Babies, Development/Milestones: Babies, Media, That's Entertainment
This morning while I was getting Everett dressed for church
we had a talk. "We're going to watch the Super Bowl later today," I explained. "Do you think the Super
Bowl is baseball or football?"
"Baseball!" said Everett, happily.
"No, silly, it's football!" I said, kissing him for his cute ignorance. "Who do we want to win, the Steelers or the Seahawks?"
He looked at me, curious and happy. "The Steelers!" he exclaimed.
I looked over my shoulder to make sure my husband, who's been a Seahawks fan slightly longer than I (he was born five months earlier), hadn't heard.
I whispered. "We like the Seahawks," I explained, and told him to go tell daddy who he wanted to win the Super Bowl.
"Daddy, we want the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl!" he parrotted dutifully.
Daddy gave him all the reinforcement a kid needs, and suddenly I felt a bit guilty. Even though Everett's not really old enough to evaluate his options, to compare and contrast coaching philosophies, the relative skills of the teams' quarterbacks, and which mascot is cooler (the Seahawks so totally win!), it's kind of unfair to force an allegiance on him.
Or is it? Aren't most team allegiances simply a matter of geography, or the allegiances of those you love? I mean, if your boyfriend grew up in Pittsburgh, you'd love the Steelers, even if you were sure that Matt Hasselbeck's passing arm is way better than Ben Roethlisberger's. So if your parents are both Seahawks fans pretty much from birth, is it wrong to love the boys in blue for no other reason than that?
Or am I just reading way too much into what's just a game?
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
2-06-2006 @ 4:25PM
Caitlin said...Although my husband and I aren't into televised sports, several members of our extended family are. But when you're in Louisiana, especially the southern parts of the state, it's unheard of not to worship the LSU Tigers. And so my son always has at least one LSU shirt/sweater for down there. My family also sent an LSU hoodie for my puppy dog.
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2-05-2006 @ 7:48PM
suburban misfit said...Sorry; we're not a sports family at all, so I can't say what I'd do.
But I'm passing on my dislike for George W. Bush & Co. to my kids, in the nicest, most objective way possible (respect the office of the Presidency, but we believe he's taking our country in the wrong direction and here are the reasons why, etc.).
That's kind of the same thing, isn't it?
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2-05-2006 @ 9:19PM
Ann Adams said...We all try to teach our kids what we believe I think - right down to our favorite sports teams.
I'm watching but I won't be too disappointed either way. I don't have a dog in the fight and haven't had for years and I have reasons to like both teams.
The girls "know" their favorite teams are the Niners and the Giants. They also share my political views which are very similar to suburban misfit's. No big surprise there.
They can change their minds when they get older or even now but cheering for the same team probably helps us as a family.
I left an earlier comment about tuning out the commercials. That was before I saw the baby Clydesdale pulling the Bud wagon (with a little help). wonderful.
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2-05-2006 @ 10:23PM
Kim said...I think my husband (who thinks football is what we call soccer) is trying with our almost 10 month old son. He was fussing midway through the fourth quarter. He decided Oliver just wanted to see the end of the game. Needless to say, he is now trying to get him back to sleep while I watch post-game (and read blogs).
Reply
2-05-2006 @ 10:28PM
Bonnie said...We're guilty of passing down team allegiances to our toddler. My husband grew up outside of Pittsburgh and our boy was wearing a Hines Ward jerseys before he could walk last football season (courtesy of my husband's high school friend.) Again, this year, same friend sent another Hines Ward jersey and our boy wore it proudly every single game day. He loves wearing it. And loves when people ask him about it. With some coaching from my husband, our toddler has been able to repond on queue, "It's a Steelers jersey! The Steelers are going to play in the SUPER BOWL!" At a boy!
(Sorry, Sarah.)
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2-05-2006 @ 10:59PM
Duane said...Growing up in Boston, I am pleased to say that some of my daughter's earliest words were "Yankees stink."
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2-05-2006 @ 11:58PM
Anna V. said...My mother became a Packers fan because the team colors were the same as her high school's... green and yellow. I grew up loving Green Bay, and I still do watch them when I can. We live deep in Redskin's territory, and so I don't advertise much. My husband, from northwest of Baltimore, loves the Ravens. But you know, football is football, and sometimes it's just as much fun to watch a good game (that's why we watch college ball more anyway, Go Navy, Beat Army).
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2-06-2006 @ 12:07AM
Missy said...I guess it depends on where you're from. I'm from St. Louis, a HUGE baseball town (in my opinion, only second or third to Chicago, Boston or New York). Therefore, the Cardinals are something I grew up with (went to the World Series, at the age of five). I will always, ALWAYS be a fan of them, even if there is no more baseball and no more St. Louis...but, I won't force that on my kid. If he wants to root for the Mariners when he gets older, more power to him (even though they SUCK!). :)
My mother-in-law, on the other hand, gawd...all she does is send Chiefs outfits for every minor holiday. His first photo in the hospital, with a real outfit on, was wearing some Chiefs sleeper. My husband isn't even a big fan of football, though he'll watch the Chiefs if they're on the tube. And yet, he still won't tell her to stop sending the stuff...geez!
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2-06-2006 @ 12:46AM
Summer said...Well I grew up knowing that you were communist if you liked anyone other than the 49ers. Now that I am married to a Cowboys fan I say that when I changed my name I also had to change my team. Honestly though I really don't care. I just like to watch a good game and I usually root for the underdog.
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2-06-2006 @ 12:46AM
Summer said...Well I grew up knowing that you were communist if you liked anyone other than the 49ers. Now that I am married to a Cowboys fan I say that when I changed my name I also had to change my team. Honestly though I really don't care. I just like to watch a good game and I usually root for the underdog.
Reply
2-06-2006 @ 2:47AM
angelica said...Our kids have been saying "Go Bears!" (as in Cal Bears) since they've been able to speak which has only been for a year or two now. They thought the Cal Bears were playing in the Super Bowl. Heck yeah we make them like who we like.
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2-06-2006 @ 3:00AM
margalit said...Like Duane, it would be nigh on impossible for kids who are native Bostonians to like any other teams besides the Pats, the Red Sox, the Brooooouns, and the Celtics. I am a rabid Red Sox fan and have been all my life, although I'm a native Californian. My father, and his father, were rabid Red Sox fans. There is just no way we could have allegiance to any other team, even though my mother, Brooklyn born, was a Dodgers fan.
And unlike Duane, my kids say "Yankees S*ck" which is the correct saying. I'm the first to encourage it, because they do, and we hate them. Period.
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