March Madness

Okay. First, let me recognize the irony of suggesting an activity that will inevitably result in TV-watching... on a blog titled "Too Busy for TV." As I've said before though, we aren't anti-TV. :) I just feel like I'm doing my job as a mom a little better when the TV is less involved!

My husband loves basketball. Loves, loves, loves it. I, on the other hand, hate it. I think it tends to be a long, boring game. It's just not my thing. It also probably doesn't help that I'm likely the LEAST competitive person ever born on this planet. I've always said that the outcome of a game doesn't affect my life one way or the other.

So there we have it. One parent really, really loves the sport; one could most certainly live without it.

Our daughter, however, tends to display more of her father's attitude toward basketball. I don't honestly know why, but she loves it. She gets excited to go to games, see it on TV, or pick out pictures of basketballs (or footballs, or soccer balls...) in random places.

With March Madness starting up (today... oh, joy), there will be plenty of basketball to be viewed in this house, much to my dismay. My husband and his family all fill out brackets in the hopes that they will score the most points, and be awarded... lunch? I think this is the grand prize. (See? Even the prize is boring.)

Our girl joined in the competition last year, at the ripe old age of ONE. She's made her picks again this year, and this is how.

• Write all the teams on an index card.
• Place two competing teams in front of your child at once.
• Have your child pick one by pointing, grabbing, tickling, poking, or kissing their selection. (Yes, we stooped to all of these options. We don't have much of a life.)
• Continue matching up their team selections until they've completed their bracket.
• Have a good laugh at the results. Our girl has a 16-seeded team going to the finals. But who did she pick for the national champion?
  

You heard it here first.

She's available for team selection assistance.