Alabama is my husband’s team. He grew up during the glory days of Bear Bryant, and he still remembers seeing the mighty coach standing on the sidelines or watching him eat Golden Flake potato chips on TV. If you think Alabama fans have put the Bear years behind them, you haven’t met my husband.

My son is an LSU fan. We’re not sure how it happened. Truman pledged his allegiance to the purple-and-gold a few weeks before the 2007 football season. That was the year they took home the national championship. This was when my son was his most clairvoyant. He almost always picked the winning baseball team or Nascar driver. When he predicted Obama would be president long before the Democratic primary, well, it was just freaky.

Here’s how much my husband loves our son – he bought Truman an LSU jersey. Truman wears it from time to time, especially when he and Daddy play football in the yard. Rick is willing to be most any team Truman makes him be, except Tennessee and Auburn. Last week Rick was Iowa. (Truman pronounces it eye-OH-uh.)

Sure, we bought Truman Alabama caps and jerseys even before he was born. We assumed we would raise an Alabama fan simply through osmosis. But for some reason, our son preferred choosing his own favorites. As much as it pains Rick, he is willing to let Truman be his own man when it comes to choosing sports teams. Rick is an avid New York Yankees fan; Truman prefers the Red Sox. Rick loves the Lakers; Truman likes the Celtics.

When we told Truman last week that we were going to see Alabama play LSU, Rick told our darling son that he could wear any jersey he wanted, including his LSU jersey. Truman said, “That’s OK, Daddy. I’m going to wear my Alabama jersey just for you.” My husband gushed with pride.

Those words alone from my psychic son led me to believe that Alabama would continue its winning streak. But at times it was hard to keep the faith. Thankfully, Alabama pulled off the win. Roll Tide!

We drove home that evening with our son strapped in the backseat. He was wearing his Alabama jersey and ROLL TIDE eye blacks, holding a crimson-and-white shaker and a paper hounds tooth hat fan, and shouting “Roll Tide” to passing cars. My husband turned to me, a proud papa, and said, “I think we’ve finally made him a Bama fan.”

Truman suddenly paused from his Bama chants. “You know, Daddy,” he chimed in. “I like Alabama, but I still like LSU more.”

Photo, JWJourney

Post from: Blisstree

Can You Influence Your Son’s Choice in Team

When Truman began T-ball, he barely knew what the game was about so we figured the Joy League was the way to go. He was grouped with a team of like-minded kids who spent much of the game time sitting in the outfield digging holes to China, flogging each other to get the ball, and running clear across the field to the other ballpark instead of stopping at first base. By the end of the season, though, they seemed to have a clue. I was very proud.

Truman had become so addicted to the game that last fall we signed him up for “fall ball” with the more strict Patriot League. The league’s fall season far more relaxed than the regular season. We ended up taking him back to Joy League this spring because I really don’t want my kid to feel the pressure of the sport just yet. Plus, I told Coach Todd with Joy League that Rick would be happy to assistant coach with him. Really, it was Rick’s idea. I just nudged him.

Rick was a little nervous about coaching the kids. He’d never been a coach before. He didn’t know how Truman would respond to him and he was even more concerned about teaching the kids bad form. So he turned to We Coach Kids. Rick says the site is great for reintroducing techniques to Dads who have become rusty over the years. It offers Fundamentals for the Coach and Practice Principles to help Coach-Dads “create practices that are efficient, effective and fun for all.”

And, most importantly for me, the site focuses on keeping the game fun for kids. After all, kids get into sports at this age to have fun, right?

JWJourney

Post from: Blisstree

Helpful Tips For Dad-Coaches

1. Smoking causes 87% of all lung cancer cases (source), and lung cancer kills more women than breast and ovarian cancers combined. (source)
2. Smoking causes wrinkles all over your body.
3. Smoking dramatically increases women’s risk of developing coronary heart disease (source), and heart disease is the leading killer of American women. (source)
4. Smoking turns your teeth yellow.
5. Women who smoke risk having a heart attack 19 years earlier than women who don’t smoke. (source)
6. Smokers are almost four times as likely to develop cervical cancer compared with nonsmokers. (source)
7. Women who smoke and use hormonal birth control methods (such as the pill or the patch) are nearly 10 times more likely to have a heart attack than nonsmoking women on birth control. (source)
8. Smoking causes baldness.
9. Smoking causes snoring, which in addition to being totally unsexy, also has major health effects, namely poor sleep quality and reduced oxygen flow to the brain, both of which are potentially very dangerous.
10. Compared with nonsmokers, smokers are more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s Disease (source), and half of all women age 85 and older will eventually develop Alzheimer’s (that is, if the lung cancer doesn’t kill them first). (source)

And if those aren’t good enough reasons for you, check out these lists:

• Top 10 Reasons to Quit Smoking
• 10 Overlooked Reasons to Quit Smoking
• 50 Reasons to Quit Smoking
• 20 Reasons To Quit Smoking

Finally convinced? Here are some resources to help you quit for good!

• Independence from Smoking: Free quit resources just for women
• Quit Smoking: Free quit coach, quit plan, educational materials, and more
• Why Quit: Free motivation, education, and support for cold turkey nicotine cessation
• QuitNet: Free online quit-smoking community

Contents © Copyright 2007 Kristen King

Post from: Blisstree

10 Reasons to Quit Smoking Today