31 Days Closer to Your Kids: Follow a Team Together

True confessions time. We’re hockey fans.

You can un-follow me now if you want.

We weren’t always hockey fans. A couple of years ago the Chicago Blackhawks, our local team, was doing pretty well. They had a couple of exciting rookies that my husband started to follow. That year I took him to our first NHL hockey game . . . on Valentine’s Day. (Aren’t we the romantic couple?)

We had fun at that game. Lots of fun. In fact, as B explained the game to me and I actually started to understand it, the game became really interesting.

The next year B got offered three tickets by a co-worker who couldn’t use them. We snatched them up and took Julia to the game with us. Her start was a little rocky—not five minutes into our seats, she turned to me and said, “Mom, I’m not sure, but I think I just got beer poured on my head.”

Sure enough. (You gotta watch it with the hockey crowd, I’ll admit.)

We wiped her off and focused on the game. B explained everything to her, while I shouted and jumped and high-fived my neighbor when the Hawks scored a goal. What can I say? Hockey games are fun!

That was October of 2009. Julia’s first Blackhawks game. She was hooked.

Many mornings Julia would come downstairs, grab the Sports section of the newspaper and check to see how her team had done the night before. Many a winter’s evening, Julia and her dad would be found in front of the T.V. watching hockey together.

They even discussed stats!

All while I stood on the sidelines and smiled.

The Blackhawks had an exciting season that year—they ended up winning the Stanley Cup Championship, much to the delight of all the hockey fans in this household. And after they won the cup, we celebrated . . . with two million of our closest friends.