A Night At the Shark Tank - Hockey with Kids

Caleb has been attending hockey games since he was three years old. He has surprised us with his focus and his interest. He can recite all of the players by number, understands many of the nuances of the game, and when he is at the Shark Tank (H-P Pavilion) he is in his element.

Xander on the other hand does not like sports. I sometimes struggle with the question, does Xander simply not like sports, or does Xander not like sports because Caleb loves them? I may never know the answer, but this winter Xander my little hockey hater found himself at two hockey games.

The thing is, games aren't cheap. The first visit was part of a family package -- tickets and dinner at a big discount -- but still close to $100 for the family. The second visit was for Jonathan's birthday. His beloved Capitals were in town on his birthday, and he wanted to take the whole family to the Shark Tank to celebrate.

It was good that we went with the special family pack offer before embarking upon the Capitals game. It gave us an opportunity to expose Xander to his first hockey game, and figure out entertainment. There was no way that we would have had a happy 6 year old if we forced him to sit through three hours of hockey without a simple video game.

In fact we treated the whole affair like a roadtrip. Our family pack seats weren't very good. We were up high and away from the action. But Xander, who doesn't like loud noises, got an opportunity to survey the environment and get a taste for what to expect. In hindsight bringing my iPad was overkill. Something more discrete like an iPod Touch would have sufficed. Xander was pleased as a clam playing games the entire game. Standing up and cheering for the goals scored, but otherwise disengaged from the entire event. Caleb was, well ... jealous. The boys aren't exposed enough to "my" iPad to see it as something other than a special treat.

At the Sharks/Capitals game we had much better seats. Jonathan had been looking forward to this game since September. In a way, I'm certain he imagined his two boys sharing in a happy pursuit. But he knew that Xander's resistance to sports, even fandom, might pose a problem. For this event we brought the less obtrusive, and less special iPod Touches. Caleb was much less jealous, but made the mistake of rooting for the Caps (it was a spectacular Sharks victory). Xander was better able to engage in the game, and also play games when he was bored. It all worked out.

Will we be taking Xander to games in the future? Not by choice (his or ours). But if we have to take him, or want to keep the family together, we now know we can handle it.