How do you encourage your child to become a Shrimper?

[Farmer Fossett]

I often see threads posted after a birth of a son/daughter stating that another Shrimper is born. Whilst this is fantastic I wonder how many actualy end up supporting Southend and is the a way to encourage your child to support Southend.

I am interested as I have two children a daughter who hates footballl after I took her to a number of poor matches at Roots Hall (although she did enjoy her trip to Wembley) and a son who I intend to take within the next couple of years.

Although I started going to Southend from a young age my dad took me to Tottenham on a number of occassions therefore upto Secondary school I am sorry to say that I supported both clubs. It was also more enjoyable in the 1980's/1990's as I was hooked on the atmosphere standing in the North bank.

Therefore should I follow the same route and take my son to both Southend and Premiershi.te matches and hope by the time he is a teenager that he support Southend or just stick with Southend and keep my fingers crossed that I pick entertaining games?

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Pavlovian conditioning by rewarding them with a Rossi ice cream?

 

[dannypav]

'encourage' is totally the wrong word.
They are either with you or they're not.
Harsh , but fair I think.

 

[DTS]

I personally think you need to make more of the day other than the football.

I take my son to most Saturday games (he is 3) and my daughter does the games she fancies which worked out as 8 games last season (she is nearly 5).

We make a day or it by stopping for lunch either at a friends Mum's or at say Pizza hut. We sit close to the drum as the kids love to see and hear the atmosphere. I got them both a scarf early on and they both have them attached to their beds. I am not trying to force them into supporting Southend as it is a lifetime of disappointment but that said I couldn't stand it if my son said he supported Brighton or Man United.

Thing I learnt a long time ago is the kids don't watch the football (possibly why they enjoy going) so you have to try and make smaller things seem fun. Believe it or not my sons highlight is sitting next to DoDtS? Crazy.....

 

[Mick]

I often see threads posted after a birth of a son/daughter stating that another Shrimper is born. Whilst this is fantastic I wonder how many actualy end up supporting Southend and is the a way to encourage your child to support Southend.

I am interested as I have two children a daughter who hates footballl after I took her to a number of poor matches at Roots Hall (although she did enjoy her trip to Wembley) and a son who I intend to take within the next couple of years.

Although I started going to Southend from a young age my dad took me to Tottenham on a number of occassions therefore upto Secondary school I am sorry to say that I supported both clubs. It was also more enjoyable in the 1980's/1990's as I was hooked on the atmosphere standing in the North bank.

Therefore should I follow the same route and take my son to both Southend and Premiershi.te matches and hope by the time he is a teenager that he support Southend or just stick with Southend and keep my fingers crossed that I pick entertaining games?

Encourage him to enjoy football generally and preferably play.

Supporting a club should be secondary to love of the game, in my opinion.

 

[Lavender Blue]

We have been taking our grandson for 2 years, he is now 9 years old, he loves going because it's a day out with nan and grandad, we are taking him to his first away game on Saturday, and he is really excited, but his dad and uncle are both spurs fans so inevitably he says he is a spurs fan, think you have to accept that most young children will be drawn to a premiership club, that doesn't mean they won't enjoy going to support the blues, when he is older we hope he will continue to go, just got to cross our fingers and hope our passion for Southend Utd will rub off on him :loyalsupporter::loyalsupporter:

 

[Wickford Blue]

I used violence i.e. you come to Southend or I'll beat you!! He now just takes the beating - less painful!!

 

[Jam_Man]

Ive just been taking my kids since they were old enough.

My daughter is 10 and been going to the odd game here and there since she was 7, my son has been going since last season to the occasional game and he is 6.

Just take loads of pictures of them in Southend shirts so if they ever try to change you can blackmail them.

 

[DoDTS]

I personally think you need to make more of the day other than the football.

I take my son to most Saturday games (he is 3) and my daughter does the games she fancies which worked out as 8 games last season (she is nearly 5).

We make a day or it by stopping for lunch either at a friends Mum's or at say Pizza hut. We sit close to the drum as he loves to see and hear the atmosphere. I got them both a scarf early on and they both have them attached to their beds. I am not trying to force them into supporting Southend as it is a lifetime of disappointment but that said I couldn't stand it if my son said he supported Brighton or Man United.

Thing I learnt a long time ago is the kids don't watch the football (possibly why they enjoy going) so you have to try and make smaller things seem fun. Believe it or not my sons highlight is sitting next to DoDtS? Crazy.....

I personally think you need to make more of the day other than the football.

I take my son to most Saturday games (he is 34)

We make a day or it by stopping for lunch (which he buys) We sit close to the drum as the kids love to see and hear the atmosphere and I am not trying to force him into supporting Southend as it is a lifetime of disappointment but that said I couldn't stand it if my son said he supported Brighton or Man United.

Thing I learnt a long time ago is the kids don't watch the football (possibly why they enjoy going) so you have to try and make smaller things seem fun. Believe it or not my sons highlight is sitting next to DoDtS? Crazy.

 

[Shrimper93]

I've taken both my children since the age of two, my daughter is 8 and chooses which games she goes to as she has other hobbies and to go around her friends, my son is 6 and he's hooked loves it he cannot wait until the next home game always badgering when the next game is, he is the only one that turns up to football training in a southend kit and he is well proud of that fact, they are both members of the junior blues. Basically the encouragement just came from taking them to games.

 

[MK Shrimper]

I'd love to inlict the lengthy pain and the temporary joys that supporting a club like Southend bring but I can't even bring myself to go to a game, let alone drag along a 2yr old who'd get bored after 5 minutes. Maybe when she's older, we're in the Championship, playing at Fossetts with crowds of 20,000+


I think I laughed so hard I broke a rib. :unsure:

 

[chapperzUK]

Don't think you can force them to. Kids will also go with what their friends at school do.

When I was growing up, in primary school I was really good friends with a Man Utd fan and I hadn't been introduced to football much so I joined the same local team as him so I started following Man Utd (shamefully). My first ever game was actually a Southend game and I remember bits of it standing at the back of the West stand (had to stand because some fat prick didn't let me and my dad get to our seats). We lost 1-0 to Kingstonain (sp?), but the experience intrigued me and I enjoyed it.

My first Man Utd live game was at West Ham which ended 5-3 to Man U, but it didn't feel the same as the one at Roots Hall, ossibly because we had great seats. Man Utd never really felt like my team and going to watch Southend play (on rare occasions) they felt more like my team. I think it took several attempts of attending before I saw a victory (was actually on my Birthday first time, win against Exeter I think).

Looking at it now, I can't see the appeal of supporting someone like Man U where you sit on the sofa with no intention of going to matches and not being able to enjoy success because it is more of a must than a privilege.

 

[FarmdogSUFC]

When I have kids they will support Southend and Southend only.

If they decide otherwise then adoption is an option.

 

[Ricey]

My kids are both 4 and I have yet to take them to a game yet. They both have Southend United shirts and all they talk about is Southend United. We sing songs they used to love the Britt Assombalonga one. When you ask them who they support they say Southend. They are desperate to go to a game and next time I am back in Essex at Southend are at Roots hall I will take them both. I can imagine it will be very boring for them but like Dave does I will make a day of it so they enjoy it.

My dad took me to my first game in 1996 vs Middlesborough we lost 1-0 and I went with my cousin and I didn't take much into it. Didn't go after that until 1999 after getting the buzz for football after watching the Champions league final and I had 10 season tickets after that and knew my and only love was Southend United. My dad didn't force me I just wanted to go with him because I got to spend time with him and got to enjoy football at the same time. Every game I go to now home or away I will always invite him to come. I bought him his ticket for the Wembley game and it was a day to remember (obviously football aside).

It comes with time and it's something you can't force. My father in law tries to force them to support Ipswich. He bought them Ipswich shirts which I told him to get rid of and don't want in my house. So only time will tell, I will take them to the fortress roots hall and see how it goes after that.

 

[Ricky Otto]

I don’t think there is any substitute for taking the kid to the games. I am from a West Ham family and am only a Southend fan because my dad and uncle used to take me to Roots Hall, think it was a cheaper option. When you are young and impressionable and see thousands of people all supporting a team you kind of buy into that and want to be part of it. I know after my first game I wanted to go again and after about 3 games I stopped saying I supported West Ham and started saying I supported Southend, it probably would have happened instantly had I not been scared of my old man ha ha. To be brutally honest, and it’s probably not the right thing to expose your kids to, I remember loving hearing all the naughty songs and all the swearing at the game. It was a whole new world and I looked forward to expanding my swearing vocab every other week. So one technique could be sitting near our foul mouthed fans? Understand if you don’t pursue that one.

 

[londonblue]

My sons both do football twice a week. The eldest does it after school on Tuesday and at Excel on a Wednesday. The younger one does it at Excel on a Monday and at nursery on a Tuesday.

The youngest is (IMO) too young to go, so the older one comes with me. He is obsessed with football in general and loves coming with me to Roots Hall. I have now got him a season ticket. Both boys sing “de de de de Freddy Eastwood” on a regular basis, and have now started singing other Southend songs at home, the younger one copying the older one. I honestly have not pushed this on them, but have left them to decide for themselves. That said, I have bought both of them a Southend shirt...

The oldest one has also asked me about 1000 times to watch the goals from the 2nd leg of last season’s area final of the JPT. Needless to say the only times I have said no is when it is past his bed time. Other than that he can watch it whenever he wants. When he’s ill, or when he just wants some quiet time he will often ask to watch one of the other Southend games I have recorded. His second favourite is the 2-1 away win at Gillingham a couple of seasons ago, but he has watched a fair few other games, and can tell me the score, and who scored most of the goals. None of this was pushed on him, but it wasn’t discouraged either. The younger one is starting to show the same kind of interest.

However, my wife reckons she’s a Spurs fan, and got her mum to buy the eldest a Spurs kit for his 5th birthday (end of August). I saw the kit before his birthday, and saw that she had had his name and the number 5 put on the back. I therefore bought him a new Southend shirt, and did the same. Because that wasn’t a birthday present I gave it to him before his birthday, which completely stole my mother-in-law’s thunder! So, I suppose I am also guilty of ensuring no other team is promoted above Southend in our household.

As I said, I haven’t pushed this on them, but I have certainly encouraged it. That said, if they decided they didn’t like football then that would also be fine. The real question for me is what happens when they get fed up with being ridiculed at school for being the only Southend fan? We live close to Barnet and very close to Watford. Needless to say Arsenal and Spurs are well supported around our way, and the Arsenal training ground is about 5 minutes away, so there is a fair chance that they’ll want to change clubs in the future, but only if I haven’t done my job properly!

 

[LeedsSUFC]

When I was about 5, my dad kept saying, 'I'll take you to a football game one day...' When I was 7, I finally went to one, which was Southend; after that game, I just kept wanting to go back... It's either you love it or hate it, it can't be forced...

 

[ChicagoShrimper]

Think twice before encouraging you're kids to support Southend United! Do you really want them to go through life experiencing false hopes and broken dreams!! :smile:

 

[londonblue]

Think twice before encouraging you're kids to support Southend United! Do you really want them to go through life experiencing false hopes and broken dreams!! :smile:

If I had to suffer, why shouldn't they? Anyway, it's character building!

 

[Swiss Tony]

I told my son if he supported Southend,i would name him after one of our greatest managers Dick Bate, and let him use Shrimperzone,it worked a treat.:thumbsup::loyalsupporter: