I was quite pleased recently when my 2 year old started 'singing' the standard fire song - - Fire, Fire, Fire Fire Fiire.... He claps and enjoys himself. Makes you proud to be a dad. He cried the other day when I chose to put another shirt on when my Fire jersey was clearly in view. Good boy! He knows Sunday mornings are for logging onto the internet to watch 'goals.' Any other parents out there have some proud moments to share!
I have three boys, but one is just a toddler. The oldest two are 6 and 9. They've come with me to many matches and continually beg to goto Section 8. I took them there for the start of the Dallas match thinking, this should be pretty harmless for a while. -- Well, not so. A pretty vulgar chant started up so I told my guys "earmuffs" and we motored back to our seats just north of the 18. I was telling this story to beerman yesterday. So this past weekend, my 9 yr old is outside just lazily pushing up and down the driveway on his scooter. He was absent-mindedly singing to himself "Fvck you dallas, fvck you -boom -boom" over and over again. I bit my lip until I stopped laughing then I belted out his name in a dad sort of way and he looked up a little scared and said "oops". I let him off easy but let him know he'd been busted. Both boys have autographed longsleeve shirts that we cannot get them to take off. Both boys have scarves, of course.
I have taken my 3 year old daughter to games for a couple of years and she loves them. I also take her and my son with me when I go to the gym because they have a daycare area for them to play in. One day after I was done working out, I came to pick them up and heard a bunch of noise from down the hallway. My daughter had gotten 3 or 4 of her little friends to line up against the wall and chant in unison, Chicago Fire - Clap Clap, Clap Clap Clap Clap with their hands all raised in the "V". I had been working out for about an hour and a half, and when I walked in the door, the "teacher" immediately asked me if I make her go to games. I said kind of, but she really likes going. The lady replied, I can tell, she's had these girls doing this the whole time you've been gone. I said Oh, ok, but inside I was really saying, Sweet!
I have three children 12, 8 and 5. My younger two have been loyal section 8ers more or less since birth. My 12 year old since he was in 1st grade. They all know most of the chants and can be found singing them from time to time for no appearent reason. My younger son and daughter have taugh the chants to all of the siblings of my 12 year olds soccer teammates and they will often chant fire chants at our youth games replacing 'Fire' with our teams name. Incidentally, I swear a lot both at games and at home. None of my children swear. They know better then that and I've never had to beat or scold them for them to learn this. All three have probably uttered some swears when they were too young to know what it meant and they were taught with love and understanding that those weren't good words. The idea that kids will be morally corrupted by entering section 8 at any age is complete and utter bs. Good parenting takes care of that $hit.
I have no problem with swearing. I've been doing it since 4th grade. But I gotta tell you, if you swear, your kids swear. I have 4 kids. They don't swear around me, but I hear from other people that they swear plenty when I'm not around. Bottom line--Your kids are swearing. They're just too smart to do it around you. More power to 'em.
I took my almost two year old goddaughter to the Colorado match in May. She had a great time and sang with Section 8 (I had taught her some of the songs at home). She enjoyed the match much more than my graduation the next day. Come to think of it, so did I.
Ok. You know my kids better then I do anyway. It's obviously not remotely possible that my kids respect their parents and are smart enough to make the right decisions.
Swear every once in a while, not a doubt. Swear normally, not a chance. And my 8 year old probably has never sworn other then maybe when challenged by a friend. But it's a ridiculous conversation. If some people who actually know my kids want to voice an opinion that might make sense but it's got to be the stupidest thing in the world to read a bunch of strangers tell me what my kids do.
I dunno, Jason's kids are very respectful as they have great parents who raise their kids properly. Our kids hang out at the games and none of them have a potty mouth, although Colin has been caught swearing now and then we nip it off and tell him it's only OK when in Section 8 and it's in the chant. Not to be used elsewhere. He understands. We have never heard of Colin doing it elsewhere. Now if I could train his mom....
Hello, I don't have children but have been wanting to post my feelings regarding Section 8 for a while now. I live in Colorado and of course follow the Rapids. Our cheering section is not bad but it is nothing in comparison to Section 8. So when the opportunity presented itself to attend a game in Chicago, I had to take it. I was in Chicago for the May 14th match versus Metrostars. I purchased tickets for myself, wife and best friend and specifically asked for Section 8 seats. WE HAD A GREAT TIME!!!! The chanting, the flags, the whole atmosphere was so much FUN!!!! The weather was a bit cold for us, we weren't properly dressed, but it was great to cheer and scream and just have a good time. Keep it up, you guys are AWESOME!!!! From a loyal Chicago Fire Fan, BlackandBlue Boy.
Fascinating thread. I thought about starting a "Children Raised in Section 8" thread but this does the trick. Our 3 year old suddenly started singing the FIRE, FIRE chant when she was about 19 months old. She and her 22 month old sister know most of the chants now. A year ago, one of the teachers at day care said that our oldest was telling everyone that a dog was playing on the Chicago Fire. When they asked her what position, she said: "DEFENSE". I know some people say our defense is going to the dogs but hopefully CJ and Curtin won't have to play with Sparky. They loved the Fire cards handed out 2 weeks ago. Our oldest asked about many of the players. When we got to Zack, I said his nickname was "the Beast" and that Chicago Magazine named him one of the most eligible bachelors in Chicago. She seems concerned that Zack is not married. Section 8 is perfectly safe for kids. They get to see adults make fools of themselves!
My 2-1/2 year old daughter is what you would call a girlie girl. Pink everything, loves ballet, Dora, all that stuff. But it does my heart proud to walk into the room and see her shooting a nerf ball into a pretend goal and yelling "gooooooooaaal!" I take her to about one game a year but I make sure she drinks plenty of the coolaid at home. She's mastered "Who's the best?" and we're working on the other chants as well. If you're ever out and about in Wheaton you may see us -- she never goes ANYWHERE without her stuffed Sparky in her hands. Restaurants, library, the doctor, the park, even church. It's a beautiful thing...
like the Lord's name, 'fvck you' is only swearing when done in vain. in playground banter, or in most other social settings, a stern reprimand is, indeed, in order. but inserting it before the word 'dallas' is a perfectly legitimate usage - and not to be discouraged in a growing boy.
Resurrecting this old thread. Been living in Spain now for 2 1/2 years - La Coruña. My 6-year old sun drew this one day during siesta time. I was too proud to keep it to myself. In case you can't read his poor spelling, it says "Fire (Fyare or Fare) 13" in the left corner with three duly Fire players duly colored red, and "Depor (for Deportivo La Coruña) 0" in the upper right corner with three Depor players duly colored blue. (So yeah - we're working on our english spelling. Funny how moving here made me realize how utterly chaotic it is to spell english words). While he's never actually seen the Fire play in person, I'm pleased that my fanship is still rubbing off on him despite the distance. He does have a passing interest in Depor, but it's nice to see where his true loyalties lie, AND that his opinion of the Fire is quite a positive one!
Last fall, we were driving back towards Chicago on I-80 in Northwest Indiana. There was a large, thin black plume of smoke on the north side of the highway. As we got closer, my wife said, "I think that is in a neighborhood, I hope everyone is ok." With no prompting, my 5 and 7 year old in the back seat bust out with a full throated: FI-YUR FI-YUR FI-YUR, FI-YUR, FI-YUR . . . . By the way, they are now 8 and soon to be 6. The 8 year old boy loves sitting in section 8 and learning the songs (the one's he is allowed to sing anyway). My 6 year old daughter also likes it but in smaller doses. She likes sitting there for about a half and then heading to the Skyway for the rest of the game. As to the language, its honestly not any worse than they hear on the school bus.
My soon to be 3 year old also does sings "Fire, Fire, Fire". On more than one occasion he has randomly broken into song, unfortunately he has the knack of doing this in a crowded store or restaurant and every time I have the fear of someone yelling "Fire!" and people rushing out of the establishment.
here's my contribution. this was from a few months ago. cant wait now that summer is here. gotta start working on FIYUR FIYUR!! [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEPMXKGsmVo"]YouTube- Ella at 11 months getting ready for World Cup 2028[/ame]