My child has little interest in the Reds

[deiseach]

It's something that's been bubbling under for a while, and a couple of things have happened recently to crystalise the thought. My old neighbour called around with her two boys, the elder of whom has just turned 10 so is of an age with my son. She said that he was only interested in Liverpool in so far as it humours his parents. Left to this own devices, he wouldn't even know they were playing. She could have been talking about our boy. Then there was the test event on Monday night. I got tickets for me and my wife, and when she was unable to go I briefly thought about bringing my son in her stead. The main thing that stopped me was it would be his second-last night at Cubs before he goes up to Scouts so I preferred he didn't miss that, but a secondary consideration was that I didn't think he'd find it interesting. Sitting in the Uppey Anny Road, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed myself. The kids football match, Jurgen doing his thing, all the chanting that came with it, simply mucking about in the ground - it was great. And I knew my son would have been bored out of his mind. If he had gone, you'd have seen the middle-aged man smiling and laughing at everything while the 10-year-old grumpily wondered when this tedium would be over.

 

It's not an age thing. Had I been taken by my father back when I was 10 I'd have been starry-eyed beyond words. Neither of my parents had any interest in football in general or Liverpool in particular, but by the time I was 10 I was seriously invested in the Reds. One of the teachers in my school is Jim Beglin's brother. He got a clutch of derby matchday programmes and did a quiz in our class where everyone was asked to name the Liverpool team that weekend. I just guessed - and got 10 out of 11! Yet my son, whose entire maternal family are die-hard Reds and whose father and uncles talk about little else when in each other's company, is indifferent. It doesn't bother me per se. It might be healthier if he skips this particular neurosis generator. I'm just wondering if it's common among kids today.

[Lee909]

I think it'll be a more common thing. Don't think kids have the attention span as much for football these days. Fewer play outside anymore either. 

[Pete]

5 minutes ago, Lee909 said:

I think it'll be a more common thing. Don't think kids have the attention span as much for football these days. Fewer play outside anymore either. 

Sadly far less places for them to play though.  All the places I played out as a kid are now housing/retail estates.  Whether kids would still play out if they were available I’m not sure but the fact that places to play are limited doesn’t help. 

[Lee909]

Agree

Though think playstation and parents not wanting kids on tbr streets aswell these days

[Skidfingers McGonical]

My lad is 10 in May, has no interest in football whatsoever. I am at peace with it now.

[Bob]

My girl enjoys playing football, but if it’s not the lionesses she isn’t interested in watching it for a second.

 

im hoping to be able to take her to a Europa league game at some point this season, which will then be a box ticked that we’ve sat on the kop together and that’ll be that. I don’t expect to be asked to repeat it.

 

 

[DalyanPete]

37 minutes ago, Lee909 said:

I think it'll be a more common thing. Don't think kids have the attention span as much for football these days. Fewer play outside anymore either. 

Fair point that, I was out from 8.00am until my Dad said get in. 

Plenty to do around Sheil Road when I was kid, footy in the school playground, climbing, bombed houses to search,(doubt if they where bombed) avoid the dog shit in Newsham Park.

Coal for breakfast, well you know the rest.

My Grandsons are fully invested in LFC as Mr Henry will testify too, especially this time of year. Gaming has fucked kids lives though 

[Vincent Vega]

My nephew is now 19 and doesn’t really have much of an interest in football. He grew up wearing the kits that I always used to buy him for his birthday, which were always the latest as his birthday is end of July. But he just never caught the bug.
 

I even took him to the stadium tour when he was about 10 and he seemed to enjoy that, especially getting his picture with Gerrard’s shirt in the dressing room. But beyond having a nice day out with his uncle and his dad, I don’t think he took that much from it.

 

Even now he wouldn’t dream of sitting down and watch us play for 90 minutes. He will instead watch a five minute YouTube video of the goals and major incidents, but I think he does that as much so he knows what’s happened when he goes to work and can talk about it with the lads and they don’t think he’s a weirdo.

 

He never enjoyed playing football as a kid, he’s a sensitive lad and it just wasn’t for him. I was absolutely shite at playing football as a kid, but I loved playing with my mates. I think kids today have too many other distractions and also don’t play outdoors in the same way kids growing up in the 70s did. The weather had to be appalling to keep me at home and even then I would either have a mate round to play, or go to a mate’s house.
 

My dad also took me to my first match at 7, and going to about five games a season was part of my growing up. It’s just too difficult and expensive for the kids of today to be able to enjoy that. 
 

I’ve never tried to force my nephew’s interest in football, and neither has his reds supporting dad. Kids like what they like and he’s a sound lad regardless. If anyone asks him he will say he’s a Liverpool fan, but he’s a lukewarm one at best.

[YorkshireRed]

Neither of my two boys have any interest in football. I’ve taken them both to Anfield several times but they didn’t catch the bug.

 

My eldest was only interested in asking me how many spaceships I thought would fit inside the stadium. 
 

The young one focused only on whether we were having chips at half time.

 

I blame the wife, they get their disinterest from her. I took her once and all she did was keep banging on about how nice the grass was.

[Captain Willard]

9 minutes ago, YorkshireRed said:

Neither of my two boys have any interest in football. I’ve taken them both to Anfield several times but they didn’t catch the bug.

 

My eldest was only interested in asking me how many spaceships I thought would fit inside the stadium. 
 

The young one focused only on whether we were having chips at half time.

 

I blame the wife, they get their disinterest from her. I took her once and all she did was keep banging on about how nice the grass was.

I reckon at most one to two intersolar mother ships, more if you only count the planet landing modules. 

[Jimmy Hills Chin]

On the bright side it'll save you a fortune (3 of my 4 kids have never really been interested either but I'm fine with it)

[coachpotato]

Given the amount of people on here who think football is fucked, I reckon the kids are a bit smarter than we give them credit for!

[Bob]

28 minutes ago, DalyanPete said:

Fair point that, I was out from 8.00am until my Dad said get in. 

Plenty to do around Sheil Road when I was kid, footy in the school playground, climbing, bombed houses to search,(doubt if they where bombed) avoid the dog shit in Newsham Park.

Coal for breakfast, well you know the rest.

My Grandsons are fully invested in LFC as Mr Henry will testify too, especially this time of year. Gaming has fucked kids lives though 

My girls not into gaming either though. I’ve got to wonder if she looks at her dad getting annoyed by refs and var and being way too engrossed in the results of a game and thinks “nah”.

 

got to say, the way footy has gone, I’m not in any hurry to try and persuade her. I’ll carry on taking her to dance classes and climbing and guides and all the other stuff she does to stay busy and happy.

[Barnesey]

It’s not compulsory. Allow him as many varied experiences as you can and he’ll grow up a rounded individual who can make his own choices. 
 

It’s you I feel for. Ive shared some fantastic experiences with my lad, coaching his team, watching him play and taking him to the match. The highlight being together in the ataturk (he was 13) - an experience referenced in his wedding speech this year. 
 

You need to find another vehicle with which you can bond. 

[Mudface]

32 minutes ago, YorkshireRed said:

I blame the wife, they get their disinterest from her. I took her once and all she did was keep banging on about how nice the grass was.

 

Drugs are a menace.

 

Before anyone spends too much time and money trying to get their kid(s) interested, get one of these, it could save you a fortune- https://www.boots.com/dna-clinics-paternity-dna-test-kit-10223968

[chrisbonnie]

My 8 year old has absolutely zero interest in football. 

 

I blame a few things. The Nintendo switch being one, another, the poor little bugger is so tall and gangly, he has zero coordination, so to put it bluntly, couldn't kick snow off a rope. So because he's pretty shit at it, he has no interest in it. 

 

It seems alot of the kids his age, that I see, support teams (mainly Liverpool) but very few of them actually watch it, which I find weird, especially as we're always on the bloody telly. 

 

I know kids in general don't have much concentration levels, but I think with all the shite they watch, like YouTube shorts, and reels, their concentration levels are even less than normal. 

[manwiththestick]

My eldest has no interest at all. My 14yr old plays football for a local team since he was six and is a decent little player, he supports the reds, always wants the new kit and he's been to a couple of games.

 

He doesn't however watch any games, a few years back he would but would hardly ever watch the full 90 minutes, he may know that we're top of the league but I doubt he could tell me who we played last weekend and who we play this.

 

I fear this is how it's going, kids don't have the attention span to commit to an hour and half, they would rather it in bite size clips from YouTube.

[Section_31]

I think it's a sign of the times. There's three kids in my wider family and none are into footy, they're always watching YouTube. 

 

Our generation played out, played footy, players were among a very small pool of celebs.  

[Mudface]

Just now, chrisbonnie said:

My 8 year old has absolutely zero interest in football. 

 

I blame a few things. The Nintendo switch being one, another, the poor little bugger is so tall and gangly, he has zero coordination, so to put it bluntly, couldn't kick snow off a rope. So because he's pretty shit at it, he has no interest in it. 

 

It seems alot of the kids his age, that I see, support teams (mainly Liverpool) but very few of them actually watch it, which I find weird, especially as we're always on the bloody telly. 

 

I know kids in general don't have much concentration levels, but I think with all the shite they watch, like YouTube shorts, and reels, their concentration levels are even less than normal. 

 

My youngest isn't that bothered. He's 18 now, and he used to play for a local team but could never be arsed watching it. We nearly had a breakthrough after the 4-3 Dortmund game which we watched round my uncle's while away on holiday, but he was back to disinterest soon after. I'm not sure it's lack of concentration or anything though, he'll quite happily sit through films, Formula 1 (ffs) or a 2 hour tactics video on Fortnite or Rainbow 6, he just simply doesn't find football that interesting.

[Harry's Lad]

I took my lad a few times when he was that age. He showed no interest at all and still doesn't at 38.

He never played footy either, it was all Playstation.

 

There's only me, my Sister who lives in America and my Mum who love the Reds.

My Mrs, Daughter and Son in Law all hate footy and the Grandkids aren't interested either.

 

Having said that, the game isn't what it was and I don't like where it's going, but it's a real shame that this Dad & Lad can't enjoy what's left of it together.

 

 

 

[Scott_M]

18 minutes ago, Bob said:

My girls not into gaming either though. I’ve got to wonder if she looks at her dad getting annoyed by refs and var and being way too engrossed in the results of a game and thinks “nah”.

 

My daughter is 8 and isn’t into the football either. I’ve thought the above as well, especially during COVID19 when I was watching every game at home.
 

I’m quite passionate watching games (not normally necessarily with VAR, when we score etc) and I’m sure she just looks at me like I’m some sort of lunatic. 
 

Unfortunately, my wife was away and she watched the Spurs game in September with me, I suspect that just finished her off. 

When she was a toddler, she’d be excited to heard we won or when she saw me on TV after the CL Final in Madrid, now she does even ask.

 

My wife is American and doesn’t follow any sports and certainly doesn’t “get” football, neither of her parents do either. I feel if my wife made more of an effort, then that would help, maybe I’m just deflecting. 

[Mook]

I've actually told my lads to swerve watching/supporting Football. 

 

I was going to take them to see Hibs (their nearest team) to see if they enjoyed it but then the SPL introduced VAR so that can fuck right off.

 

If they get into it, it'll be of their own accord and nothing to do with me.

[Bjornebye]

I think football has become too accessible. Online, on telly, dedicated channels, usually 4/5 games on over the weekend you can watch from the PL. When I grew up I was either playing footy, glued to teletext or reading footy magazines. My dad took me young and I was hooked. My younger brother however has a passing interest but isn’t that arsed. It won’t ever impact his day no matter how we do. He actively hates watching it with me and my dad because we shout over each other. 
 

The games heading to shit anyway. The financial and emotional cost of being a big fan is heavy, maybe it’s not such a bad thing. Personally I wouldn’t change being a red for anything but I can definitely see why a lot of kids just aren’t arsed. 
 

That said, it’s not as accessible as getting to a game. Getting a ticket to a big match is near on impossible if a dad wants to take his kid to a one off game. Unless they fork out a lot of money. 

[littletedwest]

One grandson has no interest but he is obsessed with rugby league like his dad.

 

The other one is a red. The team he plays for got free tickets to watch Wigan athletic at the weekend. So me and his dad went. Possibly the worst game I've seen in years. Nil nil. Even the wigan fans moaned when 5 minutes injury time was mentioned. 

Luckily it hasn't put him off. 

[Total Longo]

1 hour ago, Skidfingers McGonical said:

My lad is 10 in May, has no interest in football whatsoever. I am at peace with it now.

 

My eldest, who is 19, is pretty obsessed with the Reds. My youngest (17) will watch the bigger games and professes to be a supporter but isn't that bothered. It's odd, he always preferred playing to watching, if a game was on when he was younger it would compel him to go in the back garden and have a kick around. The other odd part is that he was always the better of the two at playing as well.    

 

One out of two isn't bad.