Olympic fever

I’m a big fan of the Olympic Games (and the Commonwealth Games, since NZ is part of the Commonwealth). I was excited last week about the 2008 games starting, because I was sure I could pass on some of my enthusiasm to the boys.

We recorded the Opening Ceremony on Friday night and watched it on Saturday. The kids were keen to watch the fireworks, but for some reason I just couldn’t get them excited about watching 200+ countries march into the stadium (my favourite part).

However, I think I’ve been successful when it comes to getting them interested in the actual events.
Okay, so Tyler is not interested at all, but that’s to be expected. After all, he’s only 3.
Ethan swings like a pendulum between (a) mild passing interest (ie. a sideways glance at the TV screen as he runs past, kicking a soccer ball or chasing his brother) and (b) complete & utter obsession.

We witnessed a display of that obsession on Sunday afternoon while at my parents’ place for lunch. The NZ women’s hockey team were playing their first match. The TV was on while we prepared the food, and Ethan started watching it. He was pretty put out that he had to stop for lunch, but as soon as he was done eating, it was straight back to his game.

Loud, passionate shouts of, “GO, GO, GO, New Zealand!!” and “OH NO!!” could be heard emanating from his armchair.

The child has never watched a game of hockey in his life before. But to observe him, you would have been forgiven for thinking he had come out of the womb clutching a hockey stick.

As the game progressed, the adults in the room began to get decidedly nervous. We were losing. And there simply wasn’t enough time to turn it around. Ethan, in his naivety, firmly believed that the Kiwi girls could score 3 goals in 10 minutes, thus winning the match. We braced ourselves for the aftermath.

And oh my word, it was a sight to behold.

Screaming. Crying. Wailing. Thrashing. And eventually, running down the hall and collapsing on the bed in a fit of sobbing.

It took a great deal of cajoling and convincing to calm him down, and reassure him that it wasn’t the end of the world. In fact, just reassuring him that it wasn’t the end of the Olympics was enough. For some reason, he had the idea that it was ALL OVER because of one game. Poor little guy!

Since then, he’s been interested in some of the events. He particularly loved the diving. I know he’ll really like watching the track & field events when they start, because he does athletics in the summer himself (and is a very fast runner, just quietly).

Who knows? Perhaps he will become a big fan like his mum after all!