I was contacted by Fanatics.com to write a post about our family enjoying sports.  Fanatics.com is a site that sells sports apparel and merchandise, with a wide selection of baseball hats from the MLB and college.  No worries – they sell both IU and Purdue gear.  Plus all the others…

I’m not going to lie, I really had to think about a time when our family went to a sporting event together, big or small.  Now concerts.  Concerts I have in spades.

But when you live in Fort Wayne, you probably go to Tin Caps games.  That place is made for families, whether you really enjoy baseball or not.  Here is what I have learned about going to a game with our musical family: our kids need to be taught how to sit through a game, just like sitting through a concert.

We have this great opportunity to EXPLAIN baseball to our kids when we go to a game.  “Isn’t it cool how it sounds when the bat hits the ball??”  Sharing enthusiasm with my kids is one of the most amazing feelings.  They may not catch on the first few times, but just keep trying.  Infield, outfield, strikes, runs, jersey colors…all of it.  I tend to forget that kids don’t come out of the womb knowing all of these details, and we get the teach them!  And eating a funnel cake or two along the way never hurts.

We also have the opportunity to teach them about sportsmanship.  We choose not to yell at a bad call, heckle a player from another team, or cut down a fan from another team.  Our actions go so much farther than our words.  Little eyes are always watching, and we get to choose what they see.

Our goal is just to get them to last longer than the last game.  The best opportunity for success is when the game ends in fireworks.  And the best, BEST opportunity, possibly a dream come true for a boy who is just learning… is running the bases after the game.

Be still my heart, I love that boy.

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