Watching the Olympics with your kids?

As a family, we watch very little TV together. The rare times my kids watch TV it's something fairly mind-numbing (to me) like Elmo goes to the Potty. So I skip it. When my husband and I watch, it's usually a DVD after the kids are asleep. Except for Blazers season, which my husband watches religiously. He tries to draw us all into basketball games with limited success.

All the press about the Olympics in China and the opening ceremonies piqued the interest of this family. In so many ways the phase "made in China" has become derogatory, and it was very enjoyable to all sit down together in our cool basement, and watch the spectacle of the opening ceremonies on TV together Friday night. It was stunning. Like Cirque du Soleil. We were awed by the precision of the multitudes of drummers, the dancers, and the painting of the giant landscape by the hands and feet of many, and of course the costumes and the parade of nations. It was so long we actually ended up recording it, and are watching it in 1-hour segments. So far we haven't watched any of the sporting events, but may. My husband is very naturally active, and I wish I were a better role model. While I don't want the kids to be couch potato observers, it's a rare opportunity (OK, comes every couple of years) to see many women athletes in diverse sports during prime time.

We've also grasped the Olympic spirit to put on some play games of our own. There is the cookie roll, which actually doesn't involve any cookies but much rolling around on the grass. And the lion races where they pretend to be Simba from The Lion King (still haven't seen this movie but heard about it after viewing the Michael Curry exhibit).

Are you watching the Olympics with your kids? Are your kids performing in any of their own Olympic games? 

Comments

[marianne]

We also watched some of the opening ceremonies in awe. I'm getting lots of questions about the history of the Olympics from my 9-year-old, some of which I can actually answer. My daughter, the gymnast, is watching the women's competition with me. She's wondering when she'll be able to flip/spin/jump like that. It's a great opportunity to talk about what you can achieve with practice and hard work. We all watched some swimming races, also in awe at the swimmers' endurance. We've talked about watching history in the making. Very cool.

[lilah]

We have been watching also. I have mixed feelings about all the human rights issues in China and the way that the media is portraying these "amazing" and "happy" kids who are obviously not old enough to be in the Olympics,i.e. women's gymnastics.

Listening to a male Chinese gymnast talk about how he feels all this pressure to succeed and that he knows that "he holds all of China on his shoulders" is upsetting. But other than all of that, the boys love the diving and the gymnastics.

Just another note, last night when Bob Costas commented how he just couldn't believe what it takes to get all of those people in unison during the opening ceremonies, I couldn't help but think things like I don't know fear, years of communism, having hardly any rights,etc. It was something to see though, truly amazing.

[Brenna]

It is hard knowing China's abysmal human rights and environmental record. I do love the Olympics though. My boys are still pretty young, but I have let them watch little snippets here and there.

[Diane]

Having traveled to China 3 times and worked with people in China for 10 years from 1997 to 2007, I saw the country and people evolve on almost a monthly basis. I don't know that fear and communism lead to the precision that we saw in the opening ceremonies. Based on my experience, I'd chalk it up more to the perception of unlimited opportunity and the first major worldwide stage the Chinese people had to demonstrate their substantial capabilities. Sure they are used to a more regimented environment we are in the States, but I have never seen people more eager to seize opportunities offered to them than those with whom I worked. Especially starting in about 2000, there was a clear perception that individuals were in control of their own destiny more than at any other time in China's history. That is not so say there is not a long way to go on some of the human rights issues, but I think we underestimate the capabilities and desires of the Chinese populace to become active participants in a global environment if we wholly attribute the opening ceremony performance to fear and communism.

[dhawk]

A dad comment. I've spent the last couple nights on the couch with my daughter (6) and son (4) being totally blown away by what amazing things the human body is capable of. We haven't talked about countries or even competition. Just more about how much the athletes have to practice to get to be so good at what they do. And both kids actually relate pretty well to how young the gymnasts, divers, and swimmers are. Think it actually makes them believe that they could do some of these things too.
I'm not a big believer in the Olympics - didn't tune into the opening ceremony and could care less about country medal counts - but I do believe in the Olympic spirit of challenging our bodies to be stronger, go faster and jump higher. I'm hoping that's the part that the kids connect to.

[lilah]

I didn't say that I attribute the opening ceremony performance to fear and communism. I said that I couldn't help but think these things. I have a friend who is an author who has wrote a few books about China that have gone on to be extremely successful and I have learned a lot about the Chinese people and their strengths and beauty through her. These were my thoughts, that is why I did not portray them as facts of people I know who were in the opening ceremonies and so forth because they were my thoughts, I was giving my thoughts as Bob Costas was chatting on and on how he does through most of the televised events that he takes part in. I certainly hope that the Chinese people will continue to experience better lives and more opportunity.