How to Help Kids Cope With the Defeat of Their Favorite Team
Let Deadspin’s Drew Magary say: Your kid’s favorite NFL team sucks . This means that they will almost certainly take over in the coming season.
Take that from another long-suffering Vikings fan: when it comes to losses, there is a gradation to devastation. Particularly devastating defeats, such as last year’s Falcons losing a 25-point Super Bowl lead (or the heck of a 98th Viking flop with an NFC field goal), can be especially devastating for kids as they haven’t matured to win yet. perspective.
However, there are things you can do to improve their mood after you break your heart. Here’s how to help your child cope with a crushing defeat for your favorite team:
Remember the pain and sympathize
As you get older (hopefully), it’s easier for you to deal with a heavy loss than it is for your child, so try to remember why their reactions might seem dramatic.
- Unless you expose your child to postmodernism early on, most of the stories they are familiar with lead to a victory for the protagonist.
- Especially for young children, a team is a collective of heroes. They are (hopefully) not yet plagued by scandals, contract negotiations and greedy owners.
By saying, “I know how it feels,” and sharing an anecdote about the painful loss you saw as a child, you let them know that even though they are upset, they are not alone and everything will be fine.
Make them active and engage your imagination
Exercise always seems to work with the magic of endorphins, so if your kids turn blue after being defeated, suggest going outside to toss up a real pigskin.
Any other benefit from this? Backyard sports are a canvas of athletic imagination and revenge: a place where real opponents are defeated and the good guys always manage to conjure up fame at the last second.
Damn it, the Vikings are invincible and have won several hundred Super Bowls in my childhood territory.
Point out the fallacy of curses
One of the most inspiring aspects of bigotry is enduring optimism. You have to trust that the next game, the next game, and the next season will turn out your way.
Even when streaks of bad rebounds stretch over decades, the curses are not real, and time is the only truly infallible adversary. This is what gives fans the ability to endure the suck seasons. However, it’s unlikely that even the most oppressed franchises end up killing their demons and seizing the moment, at which point any accumulated suffering makes the payback that much sweeter (* viking memories *) … right?
If your child feels like he’s resigned to pessimism, point to real-life examples of historical losers who defy expectations. Inrecent times there are plenty tochoose.
Remind them of the big picture
Sport at its best is stunning, triumphant and fun. To paraphrase former Chief Justice Earl Warren, “The sports page captures people’s accomplishments. There is nothing on the front page but human failures. “
Of course, Mr. Warren does not account for fans of players trying to thwart said accomplishments. There is nothingjoyful aboutposterization .
Yet despite ludicrous budgets, the edgy postures of stellar athletes, and the brilliant,buzzing looks , athletic performance stems in large part from a rather trivial premise: People play games with inanimate objects of various shapes. Also remember that most of the most iconic moments in sports owe their influence to factors beyond the outcome of the game.
So, after losing, remind your child that his self-worth and personality is about much more than the emotional bite of a lonely match.
In short: the ball is life, but it’s just a game.