Four Steps to Turn your Daughters Sports Fans!

How to raise two girls to be sports junkies? Well, to be honest, the formula is still a work in progress. I won't have definitive proof until they become college students. But that hasn't stopped any athletic supplement makers, so I won't let it stop me either. So, here is what I've learned so far:

No. 1: Make them turn the channel to ESPN so often that they have the satellite station number memorized.

All I have to say is, turn on ESPN and in an instant 206 has been punched on the remote. Sometimes, they'll question and ask who's playing. Often, I don't know and will respond, "Does it matter? It's (fill in the sport) season..." Soon enough whether it's college or professional basketball, they are entranced and asking me who we're rooting for. SportsCenter should be on every morning while they get dressed for school. Nothing gives a more well-rounded education than SportsCenter, and they're half asleep--simply happy that the television is on. It's really the only time I can get them to watch it for more than 10 minutes...

No. 2: Always have someone to root for!

I often don't care who wins, I just want to watch a game. But the kids need a hero and a villain. Sometimes it's easy: Texas, Virginia Tech, Spurs... Other times it's Notre Dame versus Syracuse, like last night, and I really don't care. But if there's no one to root for, in my daughters' eyes, then there is no reason to watch! So, I'll quickly use deductive reasoning. Well, we cheered Notre Dame on at the Alamodome (there was no reason to cheer for Washington State), so we're Irish fans tonight girls! The next question is always, "What color are they?" I'll give them the color, and they're off...living and dying with every shot and foul.

No. 3: Kids are like sponges in front of a tv! Why do you think so many infomercials for products kids have absolutely no need for are advertised during cartoons?!

I'm all for them watching cartoons, but when it comes to family time I really have a hard time watching Pokemon and Bakugan. (I see old age setting in because they give me a headache!) So, I say, let's put on sports. I stay generic, and you never know what you might end up watching. My 9-year-old loves watching every sport she can with me. She even became a monster truck fan, and begged my dad to take her to a monster truck show--a first for both of them. How? Well, my dad loves watching Formula One, and sometimes monster trucks will come on after the race, and the two will sit and watch them. Next thing you know, she's a Formula One/Monster Truck fan!

Now, back to my beef about infomercials during cartoons. I cannot tell you how many times my 6-year-old has barged into the room telling me how I must get the purse that has a pocket for everything, or oxyclean will take all my stains out, or money is literally flying out of our house due to the crack under our front door. These advertising geniuses know that I'm not watching Teen Titans, but they can drive these messages so deep into my children's conscience that they will recite them verbatim the next time I say, "I can't find the keys in my purse."

No. 4: Take them out to the ball game!

There's nothing, I mean nothing, that the thrill of actually being at a game to make your kids die-hard sports fans better than attending a game! Unfortunately, you need to save for most of the year, or go into credit card debt to attend many games. But a little mascot, good ole American junk food, humiliating timeout games, the opportunity to see your face on the biggest tv in your life, and repetitive cheering of the same word--like "defense," "offense" or maybe even a phrase, "Go Spurs Go"--will too have your child running for the nearest tv when you say, "The Spurs on tv." So far, that also works when I say "Texas" or "Virginia Tech" in my house. 

From an early age, I've known that my 9-year-old is in the bag. She has always asked detailed questions on the rules of the games and players--she devours the information. My six-year-old, princess-loving dancer seemed most likely destined to become the most informed cheerleader on the sideline rather than the play-by-play announcer. But she has since started choosing Spurs over cartoons, and will beg relentlessly to see the end of a close game. So, as you never know! Or, as the infomercials say, "It's worked for me, and it can work for you, too!"