BRUINS AND SUCCESSFUL PARENTING

How do you know you raised your kid right?

My oldest son and his family relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina, several years ago.  Although they have assimilated to life in a place that doesn't really see winter (maybe a day or two or three a year), their Boston sports roots, especially the cold weather sports, remain strong.

As young parents, they are raising their children right, as well.  For Superheroes Day, their daughter wears a Tom Brady shirt.  They have a Boston sports team (Bruins) decal on their southern SUV.  The playroom is scattered with many children's books set in Boston.

I'm reasonably sure I did an okay job, though, when I visit to see the newest addition to the family.  While still in the hospital maternity wing, my son sets up the iPad and starts streaming the Bruins hockey game.  The little nugget sleeps through it, but still.  One of Baby's first televised sporting events turns out to be a Boston game.

I don't get to watch the whole game, mostly because I am cuddling with the new baby, but also because I have a plane to catch.  There's little reason (none, actually) for the Charlotte airport to be broadcasting a Boston-Buffalo hockey game, although we locals waiting at Gate C6 understand exactly how poignant the rivalry is.

In the end, the Bruins lose but I win -- Not only do I get a couple of gorgeous spring-winter days in Charlotte and with my son and his family, but I also get to see that my own kid has been raised right: Boston lives right there in a North Carolina hospital room.

That, my friends, is successful parenting.