Sundays are for family football!

I have always been a football fan. I don't get basketball, the only baseball I watch is my boys, and soccer doesn't hold my interest enough to get me to sit still. I'm big into gymnastics but that's for another post. Saturday is the college football day. I don't have any favorites but hubby is glued. I watch in passing, always cheering for the defense. All my kids watch with him, learning the game, learning what insults to hurl at the screen.

I live for Sunday. We have church then family lunch with the grandparents. We are always settled in at home by kick off at one. My daughter is a big Cowboys fan. She makes me so proud. I have been a fan since I was about her age. My oldest followed my husband's lead; he supports the Bengals. Youngest seems not to want to choose sides but he'll come around. When NFL is on the TV, nothing else matters. Sunday afternoon finds us in the family room cheering and booing, hugging and crying (being a Bengal's fans has been hard on big boy and hubby).

I try hard to keep my kids unplugged. I have a love/ hate relationship with electronic media as it is addictive (I have my laptop in the kitchen as I cook) and I want my kids to be doing other things. They are limited to about thirty minutes per weekday for either TV or computer. Unlike the winter, it is an easy task in the summer as sports keep us out and about. Last week I decided our family needed to take a break from the TV and computer. It was the last pretty weekend we were going to have before the yucky cold weather descended upon us. I planned an outing to the park and a few hours of raking and jumping in leaves. It did not turn out so well for me.

I thought it would be a good week for unplugging because there was no Cowboys game and the Bengals just suck. Why spend a pretty Sunday getting depressed when we could be engaging with each other? When I turned toward the park after leaving the grandparent's house, everyone freaked out. A chorus of “Where are you going?” came from all over the car. Kick off was in five minutes and they all knew it. When I informed everyone of my plans there was a full scale mutiny. I tried to plead my case for family time and the need for an activity that would allow us to engage one another. I had my mind made up the this was what our family needed. But the voice of reason came from the little boy looking intently into the rear view mirror. As tears welled in his eyes, he explained with his four year old logic that football time is family time.

So one u-turn later, we were headed off towards home. We arrived barely in time for kick off. We made snacks together at halftime. We talked smack. We discussed strategy. We cheered, we booed, we cried (they won!!)

We had family time. We connected. We engaged.

I still want to unplug; just not on Sunday.