So this morning I am listening to more sportstalk radio. Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic have a reasonably popular morning show on ESPN Radio and simulcast on ESPN2 cable, and Greenberg recounts a story that happened to him at a local restaurant, when he was out with his two young sons.
A man and his son come up to Greenberg, and the father says, “we’re big fans.” The son, upon seeing Greenberg’s boys, reminds Greenberg with a certain fondness of when Greenberg told listeners that his youngest son liked to get up and dance and sing about “my stupid butt.”
The young fan’s comments seem to have inspired Greenberg’s 3-year-old, or rather, triggers the tyke’s memory. He stands up on his seat and begins doing the routine again – to the general amusement of the patrons in the restaurant.
Greenberg then asks Golic: “what do you do? This is not covered in any parenting book anywhere!!! What do you do?”
Golic’s response: let the boy have his moment, then move on, and not worry too much. He won’t be doing that when he goes to college (we hope!).
Two separate thoughts on this:
I would tend to agree, that over-reacting to this embarrassing but relatively harmless activity from a 3-year-old would only do more harm. If the kid were 6, I’d be more concerned. As a dad, you put on a brave face and hope there’s not too much egg on it. And if you’re going to use phrases like “stupid butt” around your children, expect them to use them. I know my daughters have picked up on my occasionally foul tongue. The embarrassment for me should be enough to get me to stop (in theory!).
If you were a broadcast talk show host, are you really comfortable talking about this kind of embarrassing stuff on the air? If it’s okay for you to talk about this over the airwaves, then you’d better be prepared when it comes back at you! Greenberg did not have to talk about his son’s use of the phrase. He did it because he thought it would be good, entertaining radio. You have to expect that if you’re going to be a personality. It’s one of the reasons I try to be judicious about what I share about my family here. And believe me, the things my girls say are just as potentially embarrassing.
I don’t mean to criticize Greenberg per se – you are welcome to be offended, if you wish – but I did want to point to this as an example of how speaking about your family can have direct consequences. Some of them will not be as “cute” as this one.