When the calendar turns to September that means Husky season is here and most Saturdays are filled with football watching either at Husky Stadium or on TV. We have been lucky enough to be in a group of season ticket-holders with our good friends Dana and Alan for the last nine years.
The boys have been going to games since they were months old, although I have my rules — no night games and no rainy games (because we have our fair share of those in Seattle.) Jim has proudly taught the boys the phrases “go Dawgs! Woof! Woof! Woof!” and “go Huskies!” and get them revved up for games with YouTube videos and GoBlawgs.com posts.
As infants, the boys just slept through most of the games or were happy being held. Once they could move around it became more difficult to keep them entertained for four quarters. And two-year-olds are a whole different story — wiggly, opinionated and right where Will is now.
It takes a backpack full of toys, books, food, and a row of empty seats to keep Will happy at the game. Luckily Husky stadium hasn’t been completely full and the bottom five rows of our section are usually unoccupied. Right now, our strategy is to head down to the open rows where we have more room and everyone has a better time. Unfortunately this is at the expense of spending time with the rest of our group but necessary right now, knowing that it won’t always be this way as the boys grow. Will plays cars and action figures for a while, and then trades them in for a snack and some books.
At halftime we usually try to head out to the Zone, a great tailgating area right behind the stadium. The boys can move around some more and Jim and I can get a beer. During the second half, both boys get to watch/play iPods. This way Jim and I actually get to enjoy the rest of the game.
If it happens to be an afternoon game and Will decides he wants to take a nap, I put him in the Ergo and walk back to the car or just around to get him some shut eye.
This is our sophisticated and time-tested strategy for how we make football games work with a six year old and a two year old. We work hard at it because he boys love going to games and it is good quality family time. Do you take your kids to sporting events?
