OT How old should someone be to attend a Sporting Event.

[WrongWay]

Sorry for another Vacation post, but I am trying to plan sometype of family vacation.

Looking at all the major 4 sporting events how old should someone be before attending a game? I am thinking that it would vary from Baseball to Hockey. Football and Basketball would land somewhere in between. I think. Also, feel free to include any sport you wish.

I plan to save the results so I can use them later to invite my brother and his Daughter along as she grows up. I know my DAD would like to have his first grandchild accompany him to some sporting events. So, I don't care if she will remember anything or not, I would mainly be doing it for my DAD.

We are sitting at 18 months right now, any chance I can take her to the Chiefs - Broncos Mondaynight game this year?



I promise this is the last post I start for a while.

[Leonidas]

I think it depends on the child. When the child is capable of being well behaved and sitting through a game for 3 hours then I think it would be appropriate. Some kids can do that eariler than others. My eldest is 4 and I think he could probably do it, but certainly not when he was 3.

[Greyroofoo]

I would say not until the child is old enough to somewhat understand that game

[Joe]

Originally Posted by Greyroofoo

I would say not until the child is old enough to somewhat understand that game

seriously? I know some 30 year olds that go to games of sports they don't understand.

[oliegirl]

Like Leonidas said, it depends on the child...but remember that it's not just whether or not she/he will be affecting/bothering other people around you. If you really want to bring her, be prepared to leave the game early.

[WrongWay]

Hmmm...Reading this thread reminds me of all the children I see in church?

[Glengoyne]

We dragged our daughter to her first baseball game when she was two weeks old. Our son wasn't that old. We have season tickets for the Fresno Grizzlies (tripple A team for the Giants). When they are real young, they are a piece of cake. It is when they are older but not old enough that there are problems. Problems being defined as the whole family haven't stayed for an entire nine inning game in over a year. We only stayed that night 'cause there were fireworks.


Presently our daughter is 5 and our son fifteen months. She is very good at the games...He requires constant supervision. Games now are gruelling exercises in futility as a baseball fan, but they are pretty rewarding as a father.

It is entirely up to you, but if you bring a kid to that kind of an event...realize that you are doing it for them rather than for you.

We also regularly attend Fresno State basketball games(mens and womens), and Football games. Though now we don't do the Football games, because I'm too selfish to leave early just because the kids don't last a whole game.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by WrongWay

Hmmm...Reading this thread reminds me of all the children I see in church?

That isn't a bad barometer. How do those kids you see in church act while in church?

I couldn't do a pro football game with an 18 month old. I don't like to leave early...I like to actually watch football games closely, as opposed to baseball where you have lots of downtime.

At 18 months at a night football game, I'd guess you'd be up against a mobile child cooped up in the space of three or four stadium seats. She'll be fine sitting on laps...but she won't want to stay there. She is mobile after all. She will want to walk around in front of you. That isn't so bad. The thing is, she'll want to sit down on the ground as well. Well you really don't want an 18 month old in contact with the ground below stadium seats. You will tire of making her stand up, and she will tire of not having enough freedom. Oh and my experience with Monday Night games, in San Francisco and Denver, they are cold. Kids don't have the endurance for that kind of thing like adults do.

Take your dad and your niece somewhere where he can enjoy her company where she is having kid fun.

[vex]

Originally Posted by WrongWay

Hmmm...Reading this thread reminds me of all the children I see in church?

Nurseries at sporting events. This could be HUGE.

[Celeval]

Originally Posted by vexroid

Nurseries at sporting events. This could be HUGE.

More and more of the new ballparks have children's areas. Ref: "Tooner Field" in Atlanta.

[Farrah Whitworth-Rahn]

Originally Posted by WrongWay

We are sitting at 18 months right now, any chance I can take her to the Chiefs - Broncos Mondaynight game this year?

That seems awfully young to take to a football game. Especially one that will last way way way past her bed time. Plus, she's probably little. Depending on the rowdiness of the crowd, you might end up paying more attention to making sure no one squashes her than you will to the game.

[AlexB]

Kids - if they can sit and not piss around and annout surrounding people, they are old enough: this will vary kid to kid.

As a post script this rule doesn;t apply just to kids: one of my two trips to an NFL game was diminished (note: not ruined, just reduced slightly) by a family that was seated behind us - we were up towards the rafters, and the stadium wasn't full, but they decided that the empty seats and footwells beside us were the perfect place to chuck their stripped chicken wing bones... and they appeared to be surprised when I suggested that they might drop their waste by their own feet rather than mine!

On the other hand the 2nd NFL game was enhanced by the surroudning crowd: I got to see my Dolphins play in Seattle, in amongst a huge crowd of Seahawk fans, which at home spells huge trouble. But everybody was up for agood laugh, it was more panto than tribal (including a group of meatheads that I would normally not say boo to, but in this context was taking the piss big time as we were winning!), and on the whole thoroughly enjoyable.

But I seem to wandered off on a tangent somewhere...!

[Psmith]

Originally Posted by Jari Rantanen's Shorts

But everybody was up for agood laugh, it was more panto than tribal

Okay, now you have to explain what "panto" and "tribal" mean for the Americans.

[Pyser]

i started going to giants games (football) in 1984, when i was 4.

[Cringer]

We took our daughter to a couple Houston Astros games over a weekend when she was about 2 to 2 1/2. Game one she was ok for a while, then got restless. Game two is when all she wanted to do was walk up and down the stairs. That was her last baseball game for a while.

At about 4 is when we started taking her to the local minor/independent league baseball and hockey. She likes both.

If you take a baby/toddler to a game though, i recommend sitting in t least likely place for a puck to get to you. I went to a game with my daughter only, and this lady across the stairs from us got nailed in the face with a puck because she was paying attention to the baby and not the game. Luckily she had just set the baby down.

[WrongWay]

Thanks for the info.

In other words the Event is over when the baby wants to leave. Period.

Football is Out, Baseball on the other hand for me would be in.

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by Psmith

Okay, now you have to explain what "panto" and "tribal" mean for the Americans.

By panto I mean that you cheer for your team, and boo the opposition, but it's all good natured and fun - you don't have any underlying aggressive tension.

Tribal the opposite: you are with your team, and fans of the other team are likely to give you a good kicking if you happen to be in their section - this is what it can be like supporting football (soccer) over here, alhtough it is a lot better now.

(Luckily all I have suffered is the threat of violence at a match, as I am not a fighter I have generally stayed away from any trouble, but there have been a few occasions where I have been in the wrong place and only either getting out of there quickly or the police preventing any violence have been the options)

What I was trying to get at was on both trips to the US to watch the NFL, there has never been any threat of violence at the games, and you can support your team without it being taken as an aggressive stance against fans of the opposition, and this was a refreshing state of affairs to me...

(I was a bit drunk last night when I posted that, and can now see that I rambled a little bit off topic )