A question that I've been pondering, made more urgent as we anxiously await the arrival of our US Open Cup game tickets: should I bring my very young kid(s) to games this year? Disclosure: we have a twenty-two month old, and expect a second around the early part of June. (A day before the Colorado Rapids home game, to be exact.)
We've already arranged to have child care for our oldest during the half of home games we hold tickets for. Do I dare bring him to the TA for matches? He's been with us to plenty of baseball games, college basketball games and a Blazers game. He didn't go with us to the couple of Timbers games we actually attended last year, but he does watch a lot of soccer with me. I think he would love it, provided he doesn't go stir-crazy around the 20' and provided I don't go bezerk when some ignoramus starts swearing loudly in his ear. This charming profile of Mia Brammlett in today's Oregon Live has me more seriously considering packing the little man into the North End. If you haven't already, read the whole thing- my favorite quotations are "I always stand in the place where everybody is yelling" and to the question of her favorite Timbers player, "All of them. I love them." Wonderful stuff. I want our boy (and pending child) to grow up with some great experiences of sports, and I want to spend most of my precious weekend time with the kids. Furthermore, he gets in for free this year and next because he's under three. But where do I draw the line with allowing my wife and I to actually watch the matches? Or put more starkly, what's the right age to share with them what makes you nuts? All things being equal, being famous for something like the below photo (a favorite!) isn't really the goal.
(photos - above high left, My little man in the 107ist scarf; above center, the little boy who lives in the hearts of all European football fans)
FWIW, I bought 2 season tickets this year for myself and my 10 year old girl. Told her we'll be "stuck in" to the TA section so start warming up the vocal chords. At the same time, told her she'll probably hear some "colorful" language. My thought is, I've raised her the right way and just because she hears it somewhere, that doesn't mean it's ok to use on her own - be it around me, her friends, at school or wherever.
ReplyDeleteNow, I have a pretty good and smart kid so I'm not terrifically worried about the language that she's going to hear. Plus, I've already started teaching her the chants/songs, just cleaned them up so she can still participate albeit in a PG-13 way.
Thanks Scott. I think that's an interesting point- at some level, it really all depends on the kid you have, and what they need from you. I guess it's harder to figure that out when they're still in diapers, but very helpful thoughts nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteFunny because this issue (sort of) arose today with Canzano's near-sighted article in the local fishwrap.
ReplyDeleteAs my friend Garrett said to me "there's terrace language and there's real-life language."