Parents, Kids and the Bond of Hockey

First off I’d like to say thank you for all the lovely comments I heard from everyone about my Mother’s Day blog.  Thank you so much.

Sports are a funny thing in my house. Unfortunately for me, there isn’t a lot of it being watched on TV. My wife really isn’t into watching sports, and my 2 year old only cares about music. My 4 year old loves sports, however, he’s not really into watching; just playing it, and get something called exercise (sorry I’m not sure if I’m spelling that word right). As a guy that could watch sports 23.5 hours a day, (the other .5 hours is dedicated to Coronation Street) not watching sports on TV has been something I’ve become accustomed to.

I miss a lot of games nowadays and have since had to figure out ways to talk sports with my pals, without letting them know I missed large chunks of the game.  You ask general questions like “how about that game last night?” or “can you believe that was the end result last night?”  You want to try avoiding telling your pals that you missed the 1st quarter of the Super Bowl because you had to rush out to buy tear free shampoo.

With all that being said, one of the best parts of the recent Leaf playoff run was that it was something we all watched as a family. Well, I say all, but honestly, my youngest still cares more about his harmonica and bringing sand in the house, but you know what I mean.  We all got caught up in the Leafs series against the Boston Bruins. I took real pleasure in teaching my eldest about the finer points of the game, like skating and stuff. See the truth is, I never played the game, but I’m a great coach potato. No doubt I could easily coach the Leafs from the comfort of my chesterfield.

Watching hockey with Travis was a blast. I loved when he asked me questions like “why, did he pass it there” and “why didn’t he shoot it dad?” Let’s be honest, kids at his age can ask “why” questions ’til the cows come home.  Like the one I had the other day…try to keep up with this conversation that happened in the car recently.

Travis – Why are we turning dad?
Me – Cuz we are going home.
Travis – Why?
Me – Cuz we have to go home for dinner.
Travis – Why?
Me – Cuz people have to eat.
Travis – Why?
Me – Because you have to, that’s why.
Travis – Why?
Me – Because scientists say adults need to eat between 1,500 and 3,000 calories every day for healthy body function.
Travis – Why?
Me – Well depending how much exercise (there’s that word again) you do depends on what you can eat.
Travis – Why?
Me – It’s magic (that’s my closer for everything).

Yep, watching the game was a real great father/son bonding experience. Fortunately for him, he was fast asleep when the Leafs lost in overtime on Monday night. I don’t care who you are, there is no reason for a small child to see their father crying into a bag of Cheesies. Man, there is nothing worse than crying over something that a) you have no control over and b) has no real bearing on your life. But unlike the Leafs playoff run, life goes on, and as you can imagine my kid now wants to start playing hockey. Next winter, be on the lookout for the two of us at your local rink. It will be exciting for Travis to learn the fundamentals like…

-learning to tie his skates
-putting on equipment
-learning to maintain balance
-skating forward
-skating backwards
-practicing to stop

Once he’s done all that, he can teach me to do the same.