← Quora archive  ·  2011 Jun 23, 2011 09:13 AM PDT

Question

How do I get my young daughters hooked on watching football?

Answer

It's a complex game with a complex subculture around it, so there should be something that plays to ANYONE'S strengths. So figure out their strengths and use them. You'll need to do it individually. Not all strengths can be hooked at all ages though. Some of these can be done at age 3, some will need you to wait till she's 13.

for daughter=1 to n

  • If she's strong on relationships and community: tailgate parties, TV game watching parties, and other communal festivities around football.
  • elseif she likes blocks or drawing or has other visual-spatial strengths, get a whiteboard and start discussing plays with her. You may want to hook her indirectly by starting to play chess with her first.
  • elseif she's athletic, play touch football with her, focus on moments of sheer athleticism in games and try to replicate them
  • elseif she's highly extroverted and competitive, get her into super-fan face painting
  • elseif she's highly introverted and analytical, get her into the fun of analyzing statistics, computing odds
  • elseif she's a risk-taker, get into betting with pennies at home (dangerous... if you don't also direct this strength into skilled gambling like stock-market investing, she could end up a gambling addict)
  • elseif she shows leadership/management strengths, fantasy football
  • If she likes history and storytelling, get her some jerseys, books etc. and discuss the game's history with her
  • elseif she's an artsy nerd -- a tough one -- get talking about the symbolism and metaphor in football, and how it represents the evolution of American from an agrarian culture (baseball) to an industrial one (football), and the differences in social psychology and anthropology. Make sure you get her into a sympathetic, participative mindset rather than a snooty one, since such interests can make people act all superior and treating football fans like lab rats.
  • elseif she's into psychology, watch biographies of players together
  • else default option: encourage her to date a football star at the right age

next daughter