Advice for Taking Your Young Child to a Sports Event

Taking your toddler to their first real stadium sports event -- such as a football game, a baseball game or a basketball game -- is an exciting moment for any parent, particularly one who loves sports. Whether you are taking your young child to a college football or NFL game, your toddler to a baseball game or your infant to any sports event, I have a few pieces of advice.

Who am I to offer this advice? My wife and I have been die-hard sports fans all our lives and I have been a professional sportswriter for more than a decade, so I have been to plenty of games. My wife and I did I recently took our 2-year-old toddler to a college football game at the University of Florida's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium - known as "The Swamp." We also recently took him to a minor-league baseball game. The contrast between the two provided good illustrations from which to offer advice to other parents about taking your toddler or young child to a sports event or game.

Make sure your child is old enough. Unfortunately, "old enough" is entirely relative and entirely individualized. My child was 2 when we took him to the baseball game (ironically, the family seated directly behind us had their own 2-year-old attending his first sports event) and 2 and a few months at the football game. That seemed to be on the boundary. In my own experience, I cannot imagine taking a child younger than 2. I certainly cannot imagine taking an infant, given the often-extreme weather, noise and crowd conditions that exist at a game.

Make sure seating is conducive to a young child. In The Swamp, we sat on harsh metal bleachers, packed shoulder-to-shoulder with 90,000 other fans, most of whom were standing for virtually the entire game. This was a bit overwhelming for our son. For him to have any view of the field or the surrounding stadium atmosphere, I had to hold him myself, which grew tiring very quickly. On the flip side, at the minor-league baseball game, he had his own seat, complete with a back and armrests, with plenty of room in front of him so that he could climb down from the seat and stretch his legs.

Research the admission policy. Not unlike going to a toddler rock concert, most major pro and college teams will make you have a full-price ticket for your child. That can be expensive, particularly if you are going to stay for only a short portion of the game. If you are going to be keeping your child on your lap, there might be a different policy - however, I would strongly advise against this. As anyone who remembers sitting with a child on their lap on an airplane, the experience isn't good for either parent or child.

Minor-league sports teams may have a different admission policy: When we took our child to the minor-league baseball game, he was given free admission for being under 3 years old. When we bought our adult tickets, we asked for seats that had an open seat adjacent to them; our son had his own seat - it ended up being in the first row behind home plate (the kind of seat and view you can only get at a minor-league baseball park). The point is to research, in advance, what the admission policy is, so there are no surprises.

You will also want to check ahead of time what, if any, the policies are about bringing strollers to the game. You may or may not be able to bring them inside the stadium, and the team may or may not have a place to store them. In that case, you are left with either carrying your child in a Bjorn-type carrier or simply holding onto them.

Make adjustments based on the weather forecast. When my wife, toddler and I showed up at Florida's stadium, the field lived up to its nickname, "The Swamp": It was 90 degrees and oppressively humid - hardly conditions that were conducive for a toddler to sit comfortably. In hindsight, we probably should have not taken him; instead, we only stayed a short time. Given the sun, we made sure he had plenty of sunscreen on, and he wore light clothing. Your toddler's ability to "weather" a game experience rests largely on your ability as a parent to prepare in advance for what the weather conditions will be.

Bring plenty of snacks - especially water. Do not rely on "ballpark food" for your toddler. Much of it may be inappropriate - or just plain unhealthy. (Despite this advice, I found myself buying my son a plate of French fries, which he was happy to inhale.) Bite-size snacks like crackers also allow you as the parent to control the consumption and timing of the snacking. Finally, be sure your child gets plenty of water. If the ballpark or stadium doesn't allow outside drinks, water should be readily available. If your child only drinks out of sippy cups, you should be able to bring that into the stadium.

Don't plan to "watch" the game. When you decide to take a toddler to a sports event, you are subordinating your own enthusiasm to go to a game in favor of making your child's experience as enjoyable as possible. This isn't you going to a game with your buddies. This isn't you being able to follow the action. Inevitably, your child will need (or demand) your attention - no matter what is happening on the field, your primary (perhaps only) job is to attend to your child's needs. You may miss a touchdown or home run (I did), but again, that's not why you are at the game.

Don't try to explain the game. Instead, point out interesting sights and sounds around the rest of the stadium environment. For example, outside the football stadium, we gave our toddler a front-row seat to watch the school band march into the stadium. He especially liked the drum and horn noises. At the baseball game, we spent a lot more time talking about the friendly (but slightly scary-looking) mascot than we did the game. (Of course, if your child asks questions - not just about the action on the field, but anything about the game atmosphere - it is a wonderful opportunity to connect with them.)

Don't plan to stay long. Your child's patience to sit in one place may only last a few minutes. At the football game - between the heat and the crowds - he lasted about 15 minutes, once we finally sat down. (That doesn't include the hour it took to get from the parked car through the tailgates and the crowds at the ticket gate to get to our seats.) At the baseball game, he made it almost three innings, but then we had to go. The point is: Don't expect your child to last for multiple hours, no matter how friendly the confines of the stadium.

(Additionally, please be mindful of the game's start time, as it relates to your own child's nap or bedtime schedule. The football game's 12:30 start meant that our child was going to reach his pre-nap limit by 1:30 at the latest, no matter how much fun he was having. And the baseball game started at 6, which meant that we were leaving at 7, regardless of where the game was.)

Bring a camera. Like your child's first anything, taking your child or toddler to their first sports event is a wonderful photo opportunity, particularly if you are a sports fan yourself. The stadium is usually a photogenic atmosphere and fans seated nearby will be generous about snapping a shot of you and your child. (If you have a digital camera, don't be shy about checking the photo to make sure it's one you like - asking the person to take another, if necessary.) Recording the moment will help you and your toddler re-live the memories, not just later that day, but for a lifetime.

Save the ticket stub. Whether or not you keep some sort of "memorabilia" box for your child - and even if your child doesn't end up liking sports at all - this trip was mainly for your enjoyment, as the parent who loves sports and wants to share that passion with your child as soon as reasonable. Keeping the ticket offers a small but meaningful (and tangible) memory of this big event in your parenting life.

All in all, even if you aren't a big sports fan, taking your toddler to a game or sports event can be an exciting adventure for both parent and child.

Based on my experience, I think that minor-league sports events are more conducive to family-friendliness than big-time sports events like high-level college football or the NFL. Perhaps the middle ground is to give your child the chance to experience the pomp and fun OUTSIDE the stadium, before the game, rather than inside the stadium.

Please keep in mind your child's physical, psychological and emotional limits - and, as much as anything, try not to project your own enthusiasm onto your child, who may or may not be ready.

If you have any experience taking your child - infant, toddler, bigger kid - to a sports event, please leave your own advice in the Comments area.