The R Word

I don't love football. It's mostly because I don't understand what's happening in the game and I'm okay with that. I don't find the uniforms compelling, the yelling and fan aggression makes me uncomfortable and sometimes the games get in the way of my regularly scheduled programs. 

Here's the thing-- my husband and boy kid love the game. Did you know you can watch football on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Thursday? It's intense. When games aren't on, ESPN is so that Henry can watch the bottom line. Here are the positive aspects: he's reading, he's following statistics, he's using a lot of math to determine how a score was acheived, and he finds the games truly entertaining and fun. So, I go along with it even though the violence, recent bullying, inappropriate commercials that we have to turn off, and the hyper focus on toughness and masculinity makes me queasy. I have to try to find the value because it's not going away. 

Henry pays very close attention to things, especially when football is the topic. Sometimes I think he is just reading the bottom line when in reality he is listening to the ESPN program. He recently caught a segment on team names and mascots. More specifically, the redskins. After watching the program he asked Nick some questions and concluded that he would call the redskins the r word because it's not nice to say. Just like shut up or stupid is the s word. I'm sure some of you think this is crazy or dumb. But, you probably don't belong to the group being marginalized by such a name. There are loads and loads of people who argue that the team names are just names and to leave it alone. But, they aren't just names. They are words that hurt and we teach our kids to choose their words wisely. Words hold a lot of power, especially the ones that exist to hurt others.  I'm really proud of Henry. We didn't tell him to do this, it was his own choice. Tonight, it's the Vikings vs. the r word at our house. 

--maggie