Kids and Sports Talk

Sometimes its hard to know how well you are doing as a Father. Sure, sure your wife will tell you, "You're a wonderful Father!" and the Grandparents will tell you, "You're doing a great job" but how do I know? It's not like the kids give real time feedback and in this day and age it's all about the real time feedback.

Well, the other day my wish for an independent critique of my parenting skills was answered.

It all started at Ballet class. Every Monday, Mom takes Girl to ballet class and because it starts while I am at work, she takes the whole family. So, while Girl is taught the finer aspects of the piroet, Boy, Tiny, and Mom sit, and wait in the two waiting rooms.

Needless to say, Boy gets bored in the first waiting room and wanders to the other to see what is going on. Within a short time, he returns and tells Mom with a twinge of awe in his voice, "Mom, I met a Yankees fan." He was so surprised to meet an actual Yankees fan that he quickly left and went back to the other waiting room. You see, we live in the South and there aren't many Yankee fans near us, so he likens meeting Yankees fans to seeing the Loch Ness Monster.

Withing a short time, he returned, and said "Mom. The man is a Colts fan too!" So Mom, wanting to encourage the Boy, responds, "Did you tell the nice man that you watched the Patriots play the Colts yesterday?"

Apparently, this never occurred to him but he immediately saw the endless possibilities because his eyes got big as saucers. As he started to shake with uncontrolled glee, he ran back to the other room.

Within, a minute or two, a man came to the entrance to the room my wife was in. He looked around at all the mothers and said "Does the young man in the other room belong to anyone?"

My wife looked around, not quite sure what to say, and slowly answered "Y-y-yes. He's mine."

"Well," the man started, "I have been trashed talked, but never by a five year old before. Tell you husband he's doing a good job." And as he returned to the other room, my wife thought she could hear Boy saying, "Boooo Yankees!"

And, now I know, absolutely, that I am doing a good job!