Toddler Dad » "Play Ball"

There's an old cliché of an expectant father running out and buying all sorts of sports equipment for the arrival of their offspring.

I think it might be due to the fact that as dads, we've come to a point in our life where we realize that our time for making it to the major leagues is over and our next best shot is doing it vicariously through our child. To this day there's a running joke with my parents that they were going to name me "Seaver" after Met's pitcher, Tom Seaver.

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So now that I'm a dad, I've gone out and purchased a catcher's mitt, basketball hoop and soccer ball for my 11 month old boy. He likes to start practice somewhere around 4:30 every morning with his game face on and already wearing pads (Huggies).

To begin our training we watch the "Let's Play Ball" DVD from BABYPRO. He gets to choose between Baseball, Basketball and Soccer.

As our training progresses we watch different segments from toddlers playing with baseballs to the pros playing soccer. And with each segment lasting under 20 minutes, if we decide that maybe we should head back to the locker room (also known as the crib with the teddy bears on it) we haven't missed any of it.

We'll be watching live action sports and learning through repetition words like "baseball", "kick" and "catch". I won't be surprised when we watch the super bowl in a few weeks and he yells out "defense"!

And hopefully, thanks to the "Let's Play Ball" DVD we'll start using all that equipment that I've got him for him in no time. After all, he wasn't named "DiMaggio" for nothing…

Dave Trenck
Founder, Brand New Dad

Find out more at http://www.babyprosports.com.