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

And she was right. In the same subtle way that I somehow figured out the basics of football by sitting in the same room with my husband during games, I slowly learned who was who in Nascar because my son had become a rabid fan.

(By the way, we didn’t see much of Talladega this weekend because the weather was just too nice to stay in and watch TV. But Rick got a Tweet about the ending so we caught it on YouTube. Thank God Carl Edwards survived that wreck, and a shame he doesn’t get credit for crossing the finish line on foot!)

When races weren’t on and Truman was begging to see one, Rick did the next best thing. He turned on YouTube. This is where it became controversial. The YouTube videos my husband began showing Truman – which he, of course, began to fall in love with at the ripe age of barely 4 – were Nascar crash videos. He loved the music. He loved the cars. He loved the crashes. I could barely watch. Many of those poor drivers were getting hurt and killed. I would show Truman’s favorites but they pulled the songs because of licensing issues. So here is the one he most recently enjoyed. Tell me, would you let your 4/5-year-old watch this?

screenshot & video credits:
Talladega 2009 photo & screenshot, Candy Tyrrell
Nascar Crash video, VanzVizuals

Post from: Blisstree

Nascar Crash Videos = Family Fun?

Check out some of the Imagination Movers music videos.

Truman used to be a huge Wiggles fan when he was a wee kid. Those guys are all good and well but godforbid if I heard another polka song sung by those smiling Aussies I swear I’d plunge my eyes out with a spike. We heard that music daily for more than a year and I was so Wiggled out I thought I’d die.

My MIL broke up the monotony with a few jewel purchases from Walmart’s dollar table – something we affectionately called the “boys and girls.” It was a group of kids who sang and danced around theme park rides and lip-synced to cheesy songs. The videos must have been produced in the 1990s, if not the 1980s. That was torture enough. But what made it worse is that there were two chipmunk-like creatures – two adults dressed up like some sort of fuzzy school mascot – that did cameos in each of the videos and sang in these annoying helium-wretched voices. There was one song where the guy chipmunk-thing says something like, “Now, boys and girls, let’s do the hand jive,” and I swear to you he was saying “hand job” but Rick INSISTED that he was saying “hand jive,” whatever that is supposed to mean. Perverts.

And then there were the hand-me-down religious tapes MIL picked up from a friend as an attempt to keep our son on the straight and narrow. These were sung by extremely over-animated kids contorting the words of common songs to have a religious slant. Again, that was all fine and well as long as those tapes stayed at MIL’s house and not mine. Let him watch what he will at the ILs home…so long as we keep the rank music in my home at a minimum.

We did manage to gradually introduce our son to decent tunes after that. He became a fan of the Beatles Yellow Submarine CD and had nicknames for all those songs like “The Walking People,” which was a direct result of watching that really weird animated movie they made. He particularly loves several Dixie Chicks hits, too. But his all time favorites are head banger songs I do not know the name of but that my son fell in love-love with when my husband lovingly taught him how to click the bookmarked button for “Nascar crash videos” on YouTube. Those tunes are on the iPod now…and well, at least it’s not the freaking Wiggles or those perverted chipmunk creatures.

Which leads me back to the Imagination Movers. Now, that is good, clean kid’s music….tunes even the adults will appreciate. My absolute favorite one is called something like “Nina.” I would download it. (In fact, why don’t i?) Their tour appears to be somewhat limited – and somewhat over. But at the very least, if you have a kid – you should DVR or Tivo the Movers’ shows on Disney. I’m telling you, you will be dancing around the house in no time!

Post from: Blisstree

Imagination Movers – entertaining for parents too