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Taking your kids to matches


Saint137
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For those of you with kids, how old would they have to be before you took them to their first home game? Mate is considering taking his 5yo to the Hartlepool game. I'm all for early introduction to the faith but 5 seems a bit young?

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Hit and miss. My daughter went to her first game when she was about 6, loves it, sings her heart out etc. etc. (two years on). My boy is 6 and, to be honest, I think we might have pushed it a bit too early on him. He loves playing the game but would rather play his DS than watch (grrrr). Hopefully that'll sort itself out soon. Not sure I'd take them to an away match though

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i took my under 2 yrs old son to sweden on a pre-season tour one year with saints with my 7 yr old daughter and he loved it. Now hes 8 and his sis is 13 and ...well he thought it was great fun like he did at preseason this year when i brought him for acclimitasation training....he enjoyed watching the crowd during our laboured 1=0 win but my daughter was......uninspired by it...my offer to buy her anything she wanted in club shop not even changing matters''''''' ..id say there is NO minimum age and in fact the earlier the better.....

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I've taken all of mine from 5 years old. 12 year old loves it and wants to go on his own as he doesn't think sitting with Dad is particularly cool, no 2 (10) doesn't like footy that much so doesn't come anymore, no. 3 (6) is the worlds biggest Rickie Lambert fan.

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I'd say there is NO minimum age and in fact the earlier the better.....

 

Wrong.

 

Fella and his dad has his nipper (7ish) and daughter (4ish) infront of us in The Chapel on Saturday.

 

When we scored she looked in real distress, hands over ears, eyes full of tears.

 

It's the adults forcing the game onto their kids.

 

My nipper 1st went at 5, that was a pre season game. We built it up from there and since the age of 7 he goes home and away. I wouldn't go to a game without him now

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My girls were 5 & 6 for their first game, a pre season friendly at the Dell. First season at St Marys when they were 6 & 7 we went quite often and they seemed entertained enough. Sweets drinks etc seemed to cover the lulls in the games.

We also signed them up into Junior Saints which gave them that little extra being part of something when they went to games.

 

They very quickly became keen as Mustard for Saints games, knowing the players, asking to stay after or getting to the ground early to get the players autographs........................... My eldest at 9 did give me a moment of embarrassment (and a degree of pride at the same time) when playing p*mpey in the league cup, lots of the boys from the "naughty words end of the ground" had been redistributed around SMS so when the p*mpey chimes struck up and the response from Saints fans came back: she is stood on her seat in the family stand shouting " f off p*mpey - p*mpey f off!".

 

You know your kids, don't force them, be a bit flexible and expect them to be be bored: my youngest spent more time looking at the crowd than the football at the beginning.

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Taking my 5 yr old boy to his first game,last game of the season against Walsall,Should be a good atmosphere and he shows an interest at the moment.

 

Not sure what it will be like in the kids section as i usually go in the Itchen,but i think that will be the best bet to go there,not fair on others if he gets fidgety.

 

Will be 3 generations going as my Dad will be there also,will be quite a proud day for me,as well as being an expensive one, after the trip to the megastore!

 

Am i right in saying he gets free admission?

Edited by saint lard
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My son has had a season ticket for the past 2 seasons. He just turned 4 last week.

 

He loves it but I have to stock up on munchies to see him through the game.

 

Saints mainly scoring down the chapel end helps keeps him interested too.

 

Nothing makes me prouder than seeing him singing OWTS and cheering when we score! Even spotted him shouting Guly Guly on Saturday for the first time.

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start them young i say

my kids went to StMarys from the age of 6 and loved the day-out..the walk to the ground, the crowd , wearing the scarfs , the roar when a goals scored, listening to grandads swearing! The experience is worth more than the game to them but...

oh yer , there both devoted saints fans now , in a (foreign) school full of ManU, Arsenal and Liverpool fans. Yes!

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My family rarely get to SMS for a variety of very valid reasons, but my son is very keen to get my grandson interested in supporting. He loves playing the game but, like most little boys, has a short attention span.

 

We did take him to SMS a couple of years ago and, I kid you not, every time we scored, my son was in the process of taking the lad to the loo!

 

He's started taking him to Brentford (nearest decent team to where he lives), because the boy was beginning to show signs of being a plastic Scouser. My son and his boy will be watching Brentford v Saints at the home end and my son is wondering how he'll contain himself if Saints score / win!

 

I'll go with what a lot of you say - start taking them when they're interested / have good attention spans. I think I was 7 when my dad first took me to the Dell.

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Surely if you have to distract kids from the entertainment (the football match being played out in front of them), with a DS or whatever ever gameboy device is around then they are too young. It's also quite iritating for others to have kids climbing over the seats and playing on an iphone etc while your trying to actually watch a match. I'd say, take them when they actually ask to go.

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I'd say there's no right or wrong age, you just have to play it by ear really.

 

I think my two were 5 when they first went; my nipper loved it but, as mentioned above, my daughter balled her eyes out when the players came out and when we scored our first 3 or 4 goals (5-1 against Walsall last season), the volume was too loud for her and this was in the Chapel. However, that aside, she did actually enjoy the day as a whole and has been back since.

 

By brother took his 3 and a half year-old on Saturday, which I'd have thought was a bit young, but he loved every minute of it.

 

However, I would definitely go along with the recommendation of taking plenty of munchies; I always end up walking like John Wayne what with all the capri-suns, crisps, etc stuffed in my pockets!

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My son has had a season ticket for the past 2 seasons. He just turned 4 last week.

 

He loves it but I have to stock up on munchies to see him through the game.

 

Saints mainly scoring down the chapel end helps keeps him interested too.

 

Nothing makes me prouder than seeing him singing OWTS and cheering when we score! Even spotted him shouting Guly Guly on Saturday for the first time.

 

This.

 

I think I took my son to his first match when he was 2 (Ajax friendly a couple of years back). He's 4 now. He came to a few games last season, and has probably been to 6-8 home matches this year. I have to admit that if it wasn't for the free under 8 season ticket I wouldn't bother. He doesn't pay that much attention some of the time, and as others have said he needs to be fed constantly to keep him busy. He enjoys it though. I always give him the choice of whether to come or not, and sometimes he says he doesn't want to.

 

We sit in the Chapel, and if people get annoyed with young kids being in there then they shouldn't be sitting in the family stand.

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the Hartlepool match will be my 5 yr old sons 1st match.really looking forward to it, as is he but i am a bit worried about his very short attention span & he isn't to keen on loud noises. will take his ds but will only get it out if his doing my head in! hopefully having his cousin & my sister there will mean i can watch the match. must remember not to swear to much!

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Whats the point in taking them if they don't have any interest in the game what so ever. There were a couple of kids near me on Saturday and all they did was play on their DS... whats the point in spending money and taking them if their not interested or watching.

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Earlier the better imo my boy is 4 has been loads and is saints mad although some times he tells me he loves pompey just to wind me up ! Special mention to the saints in the community which is great for kids he went last week to the coaching classes at the local school and won 2 trophies including player of the week (despite being 2 years younger than most of the others) and a signed Barney picture who is his favourite player ! So if they're doing one at your local school I can highly recommend it he won't shut up about how he's going to play for saints and beat pompey for me !

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Kids shouldn't be aloud in the ground at all. I couldn't get in the Northam one time so I ended up in the family stand where there was loads of them. I was just minding my business supporting the team in my usual way ("**** you prado! Ur ****! Why don't u ****ing run a bit you ****! I'll make you run I'll stab you in the ****ing neck u lanky ****!) and this little girl started crying so I went to a steward to complain and it was me what got kicked out!! ****!

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