Has Olympic fever hit your house? On Friday, July 27th the XXX Olympic games opened in London, England. From “Queen Elizabeth herself” parachuting from a helicopter to the parade of nations, it seems there were a lot of families glued to their television that night!
While many people are DVR’ing the coverage so as not to miss a favorite event or story about an athlete, I feel as if I’m a bit in the stone ages….am I the only person in America without DVR? I certainly enjoy watching and learning about the athletes representing the United States, and I hope I can catch some fantastic Olympic moments this year, too.
Our 4 year old son Asher and I caught a bit of water polo the other day. Although the announcer was speaking about how brutal the sport can be, we were able to have a conversation about what was happening, and both learn a bit about a sport we didn’t know much about! We learned that that the pool is too deep for the players to touch, so treading water and swimming constantly make the game even more challenging. As a boy who loves to swim, perhaps this sport will be something Asher pursues some day! He’s also been particularly interested in learning how to dive lately, so I can’t wait to see what he thinks of the diving competitions. I especially love the challenge of synchronized diving.
Summer is prime time to get outside and play with your family, but perhaps some important lessons can be learned from enjoying some Olympic coverage together followed by some dinner table or bedtime conversations.
1) To go far in your sport (or just in life in general!), you must endure hard work, maybe some adversity, and have a lot of perseverance.
2) Honing your skills takes lots of time and practice! And practice doesn’t always make perfect, and that’s OK!
3) It’s always important to be a good sport and gracious to others, even when you don’t win.
4) Moving, no matter what you’re doing, is an important way to stay healthy.
5) It feels good to cheer for others!
By watching the Olympics, your children will learn about different sports, as well as different countries…from the clothes the participants wear in the opening ceremonies, to the flags each country carries, to the numbers of participants representing a particular country. Asher’s particular favorites this year were Canada, Australia, and of course, the United States.
What Olympic conversations have you shared with your children this year?
great post, emily! i like how you are using the olympics as a chance to teach your kids about all of those great life lessons! we have only watched a little bit of the games at our house (we also don’t own a dvr…ha, we don’t even have cable!). but the other night when i was gone (at the party with you!), matt and the boys were watching mens diving, and sam decided to “dive” off the couch. he now has a black eye and a swollen nose. oh, boys!!
Emily, you’re not the only one without a DVR…we don’t even have cable/satellite tv either! We’ve been watching here and there – Owen is a big Michael Phelps fan, but has also liked watching gymnastics and volleyball. He’s learning about the countries as well – is very interested in what “abbreviations” mean and where the countries are located.