January 23, 2015

Raising Kids To Be Fans Of Perpetually Poor Sports Teams

A debate on Twitter — maybe not a DEBATE exactly, more of a series of tweets, some of which are amusing — regarding the raising of kids and whether or not it is a good idea to indoctrinate them into becoming fans of your favorite sports team, even if that team isn’t exactly known for winning it all. (Apologies if anyone is offended by the language of the Tweeter’s username. I’m not offended, but maybe someone else is. If so, sorry.)

My view? Don’t force the issue. If you’re a real fan of a team, your kid will probably pick up on that fandom as they grow up. Sometimes strange things happen; it’s easy to forget that our children are humans with minds of their own.

In my case it’s easy — I’m a Yankees fan and a Giants fan. Neither team breaks your heart the way the Mets and the Jets do. But if I lived somewhere other than New York, I would be more inclined to encourage my kids to consider our local franchises, even if I maintained my own life-long loyalties.

Here’s the tweet that spawned this post:

This reply amused me:

The thing is, if you live in Philly, and you’re an Eagles fan, there’s nothing wrong with passing that fandom onto your children. Maybe you shouldn’t encourage them to boo Santa Claus, though.

And for anyone out there who thinks being a Yankee fan is easy, one word — A-Rod. Is that even a word? I don’t know.


This post was written by Daddy

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