Week 5 Picks - It's not fair

I’ve mentioned this on Blue 58 a couple of times this year, but my son is just starting to get interested in watching the Packers on Sundays.

He likes to sit with me and ask questions, and he’s invested in the outcome even if he doesn’t understand anything about the road toward that outcome. But mostly he wants the Packers to win, because he knows the Packers winning makes me happy, and he wants me to be happy.

This, of course, is incredibly sweet. My seven-year-old son doesn’t get a thing out of football other than knowing that when the Packers win, dad is happy about it. I hope my attitude is such that he hasn’t internalized the opposite, that when the Packers lose, dad isn’t happy.

But so far this season, the Packers haven’t won much, and when they have won, it hasn’t been pretty. My son was in bed by the time the Packers finished their Week 1 collapse against the Vikings, and when I went up to tell him how things had gone, he burst into tears. Always on the look for teachable moments, I told him that part of the reason we watch sports is to understand disappointment. Things don’t always go how we want them too. And sometimes, things aren’t fair.

I’ve been stuck on fairness this year. The seven-year-old has a five-year-old sister, and you’d better believe we have regular chats about what’s fair in our household. Why does he get to stay up a bit later? Why does she get to have candy and I don’t? Why don’t either of us get to watch as much TV as we want when that’s all you and mom do after we go to bed?

Sorry kids, it’s not fair.

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