I love sports! Well, mostly basketball, college basketball. My husband and I like watching games on TV, and we also like to go to championship games, whenever possible around the U.S. However, that’s become more difficult to do now that we are parents of little ones.
The first game we took our daughter to was a first round National College Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament game when she was only 2 years old. We weren’t planning on attending because we already had plans, but it turned out that our plans fell through at the last-minute.
So, after a few clicks on Stub Hub, a secondary ticket vendor, we had tickets to the game, and we were updating our Facebook statuses to see who else was going to be there.
We didn’t want to impose on my parents to watch our daughter overnight with such short notice, so we took her with us on a spur of the minute 4 hour road trip to Rhode Island to see some college basketball.
We had no idea what to expect. She was newly potty trained, and the game was a double-header, meaning that there were actually two games, one after the other.
Well, a college basketball fan was born that day. Sarah loved it! She loved the mascots, and she got excited to learn the cheers and see if the ball would get into the basket. The stadium food – pretzels, hot dogs, etc. didn’t hurt, either. We try to eat healthy at home, but here, we splurged.
My girls are my life. But, for just this one day, there would be organic lollipops packed in my bag. Just so Mommy can watch her team…
Sarah made it through the first game, napped on me for the first half of the 2nd game, and was up in time to cheer again in the second half.
In the end, we asked her what her favorite part was, and she answered “the dancing girls”. She liked the cheerleaders, too, but she chose the half time dance team as her favorite.
I didn’t think much into why she chose them. I just thought that she found them the most entertaining to her.
That was over a year ago, and since then, we’ve taken her to a handful more college basketball games. Her favorite is always the dancing girls, and she loves to dance in her seat and join in the cheers.
So, this year we watched many of the games of “March Madness”, the NCAA tournament, on TV at home. I gave birth at the beginning of March to a second little girl, so we weren’t ready to take our show on the road.
But, something really interesting happened.
We had the ESPN game highlights on in the background and my daughter started exclaiming “Ladies!!! Ladies!!! Mom, look!!! Ladies are playing!!” I looked up at the screen and saw the highlights of a women’s college basketball game.
That’s when it hit me. She had no idea that women can play basketball outside of our own driveway hoop, too. We’ve only been going to men’s basketball games. And, it was now clear that she favors the dancing girls and cheerleaders at college basketball games because they are female like her, and she can better relate to them.
I felt a bit guilty.
But then, after thinking about it, I decided we needed an action plan. And, I know what I have to do now for next season. I think the WNBA and our local college women’s basketball team just made two new fans.
Is there a sport that you enjoy watching with your children? Or, is there a past time that you enjoy too much to give up, so you’ve brought your children along with you?
This is an original World Moms Blog post by Veronica Samuels. Veronica can be found on her Facebook Page, on Twitter @VeronicaSamuels and contributing to Jersey Moms Blog.
Photo credit to http://www.flickr.com/photos/33779774@N08/4102549774/in/set-72157622799358170/. This photo has a creative commons attribution license.
Jennifer Burden
Jennifer Burden is the Founder and CEO of World Moms Network, an award winning website on global motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. World Moms Network writes from over 30 countries, has over 70 contributors and was listed by Forbes as one of the “Best 100 Websites for Women”, named a “must read” by The New York Times, and was recommended by The Times of India. She was also invited to Uganda to view UNICEF’s family health programs with Shot@Life and was previously named a “Global Influencer Fellow” and “Social Media Fellow” by the UN Foundation. Jennifer was invited to the White House twice, including as a nominated "Changemaker" for the State of the World Women Summit. She also participated in the One Campaign’s first AYA Summit on the topic of women and girl empowerment and organized and spoke on an international panel at the World Bank in Washington, DC on the importance of a universal education for all girls. Her writing has been featured by Baby Center, Huffington Post, ONE.org, the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life, and The Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists.” She is currently a candidate in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in the Executive Masters of Public Affairs program, where she hopes to further her study of global policies affecting women and girls. Jennifer can be found on Twitter @JenniferBurden.
Follow Me:
Great post – love the fact that you all suddenly discovered women playing as well. We don’t really watch a lot of sport only the Formula 1 – and the wee lad seems to like the red car (which is ashame because I don’t) – but he only watches for a few minutes at the time. (Actually, I say we don’t watch a lot of sport, but I totally forgot about the winter sports! We love to watch cross country skiing world cup in the winter!)
Asta,
Now when I look at it, it seems kind of silly that we just go to watch the men play. Now that I’m raising two girls, I’m going to make sure they see women playing. And, I don’t want to limit it to just sports. I think it’s great for them to see women in all different types of roles.
Funny about the wee lad liking the red car!!
Veronica 🙂
Your article is well timed for me, as we are taking our boys (5 yrs old and 1 yr old) to their 1st professional baseball game next month. My husband and I don’t follow baseball, but my son’s Tball league has a special “Day at the Mariners” event where they get to go on the field and meet the players before the game. It should be alot of fun. My husband also took our older boy to a rally car race recently, which was a huge hit! Up to now, ours sons have mainly seen sports on tv. My husband is a die hard New England Patriots fan (NFL), so our fall and winter Sundays are spent cheering them on. We also follow ice hockey and are gearing up for the Stanley Cup finals (go Canucks!). Our son took ice hockey classes for awhile after the Stanley Cup last year, having been inspired by the action. The Olympics and Tour de France are household favorites as well. My husband and older boy LOVE cycling, and we have taken our sons to cross-bike races that that my husband has competed in. Lastly, my favorite sport is soccer (or football to the rest of the world ;-)). I can’t follow MLS or other world leagues consistently, but I love to watch both men’s and women’s World Cups and attempted to get my older son hooked this last time around (with mixed results…long games with low scores didn’t “wow” him). I also play co-ed soccer with friends and brought my sons to one of my games a few weeks back. But my sons seem to have more fun running under the bleachers with the other kids than watching Mom play. At least they are getting to exposed to so many different sports!
Tara,
Wow, you have a sporty family!! I love World Cup soccer, too!! I think it’s great that you’re taking time for yourself to play co-ed soccer. Go mom!!
The baseball game sounds like fun, and I bet your boys will have a great time. We’ve taken our daughter to a minor league game before, and she’s enjoyed it. She was too young to understand the game, but was a fan of the mascots, etc. It was a charity event for my local mothers club, so a bunch of her friends were there, too. It was less about the baseball and more about it being a family day out.
Soccer is big in my house with my husband being from England. Our family in the UK loves soccer! Our daughter likes to pick a color on tv to support, and it is an easier game for her to watch because she’s looking for the ball to get kicked into the goal.
Glad you can relate to this post!
Veronica 🙂
Your response about your daughter picking a team for their uniform color reminded me of something funny. I am not a huge American football fanatic, but as I said, my husband is. He teases me because where I get sucked in is the back stories. There are so many people in professional sports who do terrible things off the field. It really bothers me. Not that everyone has to be a role model, but I think a general decent code of conduct should be part of the deal. Anyhoo…when someone has a really strong compelling back story about the odds they overcame in a positive way or the good work they do in the community, I automatically cheer for them. My husband will always say, “Oh..you’ll love this guy…listen to this back story…” So I guess sometimes it goes beyond just the sports but the other pieces too!
Tara, I’m a total sucker for back stories too! Especially during the Olympics (although now I think they overdue it a bit). I definitely root harder or become a bigger fan for NCAA kids with a compelling story (or even NBA players, like Ray Allen, not only a former UCONN Husky, but a loving, involved father and family guy [of course, he’s also really easy on the eyes ;o)
Now you know that I LOVE this because you probably remember my post after my Hogs lost the Sugar Bowl. I love football and basketball and have taken my boys to as many games as I can afford. They are both athletic so I have hopes to see them in a Razorback jersey someday!
Margie,
Yep, I remember your post! I think it’s generational for me — I grew up with sports on the tv in our house all the time, and my dad in his mid-life crisis redecorated our family room with pictures and plaques of sports heroes.
I look forward to hearing about your sons’ athletic journeys over the years!
Veronica 🙂
We haven’t taken our kids to watch adult sport: mostly because they are very reactive to over-stimulation. They do like to watch the Olympics on the tele and we’re going to see how they go with it on all the time next year and see how they manage. I am going to play devils’ advocate too and say – why so young? Do kids really gain anything from going to these kinds of events before they are nine or ten?
Karyn,
Good question. Do children gain anything from going to a sporting event so young? I really don’t know. For us, it’s something that my husband and I really like doing, but we’re not very good about doing things without our kids, so they come along. So, while they’re there, we try to make it fun for them. Since, my daughter wound up taking a liking to going to basketball games, it has become something fun that we can do together. And, maybe it’s interesting for her to see what her parents find interesting.
If I step back and think about why we go, it’s entertainment and part of our culture. Will going make her want to play the sport in the future? I don’t know. But, we’ve found in my daughter’s case that she is showing an interest in playing soccer, and it’s on tv in our house almost every weekend. Is that a strong correlation or just that most kids her age in town want to play soccer? I don’t know.
If I wasn’t into sports, I couldn’t see myself going out of my way to make sure that I took my kid to a game. I think it’s just a part of who my husband and I are and what we like, so we want to share it with our kids. Part of it is doing something together as a family, and part of it is something in life that keeps the parents interested. For some, it may be camping. For us, it’s sometimes college basketball games or English soccer. (Although we haven’t taken our kids to a soccer game yet, but I’m sure that is coming.) So, in the end, maybe the biggest thing that the children are gaining is an open door into what makes their parents tick!
Anyone else have any thoughts to Karyn’s question? Thanks for asking a good question, by the way, Karyn!
Veronica 🙂
It is a good question. We haven’t really invested the money and effort for many big professional sports outings because we would be chasing our little ones around the stands rather than watching the event. And our kids are picky sleepers, so napping would be difficult to manage. However, now that our 1st son is a bit older, he can sit and enjoy an event for the most part. I think, as you said, it’s really about family time. My sons just love when we do something all together, whether it’s going to a concert, camping, or playing in the backyard. Plus my boys see what their dad likes and want to like it too since they want to be just like their dad. The hero worship is very cute. They all have their matching NE Patriots gear and Philly Flyers jerseys. So I don’t think they get all the nuances of the sports, but they do have fun memories. As for seeing their own Mom & Dad play sports…I think it’s just good for them to see different sides of their parents as people in the world. I have nothing to back that up…just that we are human too with our own interets, struggles, and victories.
What a clever little girl and wonderful Mommy!!! So glad you get to share this together and inspire her at the same time.
Hope you know what is coming next…”The girls danced and cheered for the boys’ team. Why aren’t the boys dancing and cheering for the girls’ teams?” 😉
Three cheers for NCAA hoop! Though we love playing sports and going to live, Major League Baseball games (Go Red Sox!!) There is very little TV watching in our home and practically no televised sports followed EXCEPT during basketball season. My husband’s a University of Connecticut (UCONN) grad. They won their first championship when he was a student there and this past year, as a 70th birthday gift for his dad, he bought tickets to the Houston Final Four (for you non-Americans or non NCAA fans, this is the apex of the college basketball season, 64 teams competing over the month of March (a.k.a.March Madness) for a spot in the Final Four and on to the Championship). He knew that UCONN would be playing in the first round but had no idea they’d win the tourney! Our daughter (5) has observed his fanaticism over the years and is now a fan herself. She went to her first men’s game in February but we’re lucky that UCONN has an equally good (if not better) women’s team too. Maybe someday we’ll get to meet at an NCAA women’s game. Until then, GO HUSKIES!!
Love that Sarah noticed the girls playing all on her own! I cannot imagine taking my 2-year-old to a game. Just yesterday I took her to her older sisters swim class and she cried the ENTIRE 45 minutes of the class begging me to let her go swimming too. I felt so bad for her, seeing the desire to jump in the pool in her little eyes. I think if I took her to a sports game she’d want to jump right in there with the other players and would not stop crying until we would have to leave.
We took my oldest daughter (now 6 years-old today!) to see/hear the Andre Rieu orchestra when she was 2-years-old. She LOVED it. She got to see all of her favorite instruments and get up in the isle and dance! It was such fun!
Love that Sarah noticed the girls playing all on her own! I cannot imagine taking my 2-year-old to a game. Just yesterday I took her to her older sisters swim class and she cried the ENTIRE 45 minutes of the class begging me to let her go swimming too. I felt so bad for her, seeing the desire to jump in the pool in her little eyes. I think if I took her to a sports game she’d want to jump right in there with the other players and would not stop crying until we would have to leave.
We took my oldest daughter (now 6 years-old today!) to see/hear the Andre Rieu orchestra when she was 2-years-old. She LOVED it. She got to see all of her favorite instruments and get up in the isle and dance! It was such fun!