Like many Canadians, our family was captivated by the Raptors? NBA championship run last spring. But for our six-year-old son, who could expertly pronounce Jonas Valanciunas?s last name when he was four, the epic highs and lows of the post-season were almost too much to bear.
Superstar Kawhi Leonard?s iconic buzzer-beater shot in Game 7 of the Eastern Con­ference semi-finals bounced our son into the stratosphere with giddy excitement. But when the Raptors were down early in another game, he ran to his room, sobbing. ?They?re going to lose!? he cried from under his covers, unable to fall asleep that night. Every game ended in unbridled jubilation or utter devastation. There was no in-between.
The late nights, of course, didn?t help. Because it was a historic moment, we had decided to let him stay up past his 8 p.m. bedtime to watch the first two quarters. (We screened the rest of each game for him: If the Raptors won, he could watch the fourth quarter in the morning, over his Cheerios. If they lost, he could only see the highlights.) We didn?t realize just how worried we?d been about our son’s intense reactions until after the final game. As we watched the celebrations on TV, my husband turned to me and said, ?Thank God they won.? We were relieved we wouldn?t have to break bad news to our little superfan.
Toronto mom Karen Geller* had a similar situation with her son Adam,* who started watching a lot of baseball on TV around age eight. At first, she explains, they...