My wife and I went into Chicago yesterday to visit her mother. While we were there my S-I-L and nephew dropped by. Actually they got there before we did. My nephew is about 7 and had been talking smack to me all year long about how great the Bears are and how lousy GB is. I try and give him a little slack as he gets that from his dad. (His dad is the whiney B-I-L that complained about how unfair the refs where when GB beat Chicago on the final game of the season. He is a poor sport. Always has been always will be but I can handle him.)
This was first time I have been into the City since the season ended. When I saw my nephew the first thing I said to him was how great the Packers were at how terrible the Bears are. (In the language of a 7 year old of course.) Like his dad, he got up and left the room.
We learned from his mother that my nephew is selling candy as a fund raiser for school. Loud enough for my nephew to hear I announced that we would not buy any candy unless he said that the Bears stink or that GB rules. (Or something dumb like that.) He came running down the hall and announced he would never say that because GB only won because they cheated. (He dad again.) He told us that there were 3 holding penalties that the refs didnt call that allowed GB to win the game. Since he has no idea what he is talking about I can only assume he was referring to the NFCCG. Everyone in the room told him that GB did not cheat. I pointed out if there were holding penalties that is was the refs that should have called the penalties. I tried to explain to him that penalties can be called on nearly every play. Silly me trying to argue with a 7 year old.
We spent several hours there and when things were wrapping up his mother called him back into the room and told him once again that the only way for him to sell us chocolate was for him to say the Bears stink or GB rules. He said he wasnt going to do that for chocolate. It would have to be something better. We laughed. She said that he would have to give back the $4. He sighed and began, Green Bay . he started to gag. My nephew JUST COULDNT BRING HIMSELF TO SAY IT. We all laughed.
I sat there and watched as his mother, grandmother and my wife all took turns trying to coax it out of him. Early on I chipped in a bit as well. Nope. He was not going to do it. He said it was ok with him if his mother said it for him but he would say it. I told him that it wouldnt count. We were all laughing and giving him a little bit of a hard time.
After a few minutes I stopped the whole inquisition and began to explain to him what peer pressure was. I told him that I did not want him to say or do something that he knew was wrong just to go along with the crowd. Especially when the group was a bunch of kids. I told him that he gave the right answer to us. We all dropped the taunting and told him what a good job he did.
But to see him gag as he tried to complement GB was absolutely priceless.