The Indoctrination Starts Early!

Today is opening day for Cardinals baseball. In St Louis, Cardinals baseball is practically a religion. It doesn’t seem to matter where you go to school, “Cardinal Days” are very common. On Cardinal Days, the students are encouraged to dress in their Cardinal gear–or to at least wear red. With it being opening day, my older kids all participated in Cardinal Day at their school. Evangeline is the only one with a Cardinal shirt that still fits her, so the boys had to settle with red. Staying in the spirit of the day, I got out Charis’s Cardinal t-shirt for her to wear to pre-school today. (Said t-shirt was purchased for less than $1 at a thrift store last year, BTW.) When I arrived there to pick her up this afternoon, she was also donning the lovely “red bird” hat that they made in craft time today. Not only was she wearing the proper attire, she was chanting, “Cardinals, Cardinals, Cardinals” all the way home.

I grew up watching baseball with my brothers, so I was something of a fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates. But we never were taught to love the Pirates at school. When in St Louis, there is love for God, love for your family, and love for the Cardinals. During baseball season, the order of these loves sometimes gets a bit skewed.

Mark and I are still not big fans, but it is sort of hard not to get caught up in the frenzy of it all. So, in honor of the Cardinals, please enjoy the photo of the team’s newest fans. She is quite jealous that her siblings are getting to go to a game on Thursday with their school. She wants to know when she will get to go.

6 thoughts on “The Indoctrination Starts Early!”

  1. I tend to agree with you, but I will say that the school agreed to do it because some parent applied to some program and received free seats for the students in 3rd – 8th grade. Also, knowing some of the other field trips that kids go on, it’s hard to be too critical.

    Also, don’t you think our little red bird is cute?

  2. Well, of course, she’s darling!

    Yeah, lots of field trips can be a major waste of time, which is why I refused to take them unless there was maximum impact for what I was trying to teach. But that still cracks me up…!

  3. We still have the Cardinals pennant (baseball helmet) that Nevin gave Dad a year or two ago for his birthday. I guess it’s time to hang it up on the wall again!

Leave a Reply to jennifer Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *