Super Bowl and Family Fun

So, today I have to talk about family fun here in the United States. Today is the Super Bowl. It’s a big deal for a lot of people. And we too, will use it as a tool for fun.

I grew up with a jock Dad. Playing sports was important to him. He even built a basketball court in our back yard.

We played basketball in the backyard, baseball in the field and football along the side of the house. Once a week, my Father would take us to the nearest High School to run. Four times around the track and we would be rewarded a milk shake. I think I would have done the run even without the milk shake just to be around him.

I was good at football for a girl. Even for a boy of my age I was good. I could throw a football as well as anyone back then and that qualified me as quarterback. I was the only girl on either team and except for my Father, the best player of them all.

It was hard playing with my brothers though. They had such negative emotional responses to losing. But my Father kept us going with an attempt to teach sportsmanship along with a love of challenge and competition. To be a good sport.

But this sort of thing requires observation of oneself. It’s important to see yourself as others would see you. To recognize the emotional triggers that can fuel a program of not being good enough, of loss, of not being loved by the Father. To play a game without being attached to the outcome.

It’s important to have fun. Despite the condition of the world, despite the signs  of a world gone mad, play has its place. It’s important to the creative process of ones being when approached in the proper Way .

My Father didn’t have the knowledge of Fourth Way  work. He did not know how to teach his children how to deal with negative emotions.

Instead of being play, sports becomes war when not approached in the proper way. You see this dynamic being played out all over the world and even as a young girl I recognized it within my own family.

And today is the Super Bowl. We will make it a day of family fun and an opportunity for learning.

The Boy received an ESPN Game Station for Christmas and it has become a family favorite. So, we are having our own Super Bowl tournament with prizes for the winner. Of course the proper handicap will be applied to each player so everyone truly has a chance to win.

We use the ESPN Game Station for play but also as a tool for teaching and learning. The Boy can have a quick temper when losing or not playing up to his expectations. It’s the balls fault, his Mothers fault, the dog’s fault, or the Game Station's fault. Anything or anybody’s fault, but his own. He can become quite agitated, tearful and out of control at times. He’s a boy of 8, learning.

And I am a Mother, learning patience.

So we have been preparing him for this day. Talking to him about his negative emotions. How not to be attached to the outcome, to observe himself as others do, to be considerate to the rest of the family and equally important….

… to have FUN in the process of learning.