Four years ago, I wrote about ways to connect my then-three-year-old South African son with the Olympics. In our article “Cheering for our Child’s Home Country: Opportunities to Connect,” I wrote about how we tried to connect with our new son after international adoption. Our son was new to the United States and was still adjusting to living in a new country. Today, my son is eight and is more adjusted to living with his American life while embracing his South African heritage.
Over the past four years, we’ve grown to learn about our South African son’s birth culture and introduced him to our American culture. Using the tips given in the article “How Do I Incorporate My Child’s Culture into Our Lives More?” we, as his parents, became students of South African culture and his likes and dislikes. Due to his athleticism, we used elements of culture such as food, traditions, and sports. With his connection with sports, we knew that he would love the Olympics.
Since the Olympics began, he’s been watching often. While watching on TV, he’s introduced to sports like water polo and tennis, but there are sports that we were introduced to years ago once we learned we were adopting a son from South Africa. In this article, I will include tips on preparing ourselves for watching the Paris 2024 Olympics with our son.
Tips to Watch the Olympics
1. Research the popular sports in your child’s birth country.
Once you know these sports, try to follow them and get to know the sports players in the birth country. While typically, each country tries to represent each sport, we wanted to know which ones were popular. We found that in South Africa, the famous sports were cricket, rugby, and soccer. Once we knew the popular sports, we started to follow the teams and learn the players’ names. Following the popular sports helped our son become more engaged in the games when he was watching during the Olympics and beyond.
2. Attend games that include your child’s birth country and the parent’s country.
Each sport has international friendly matches and tries to have a team in the country. For example, the women’s South African soccer team played a game with the USA, and we could see the women play. Unfortunately, they could not qualify for the Paris Olympics, but cheering them on the road to the Olympics was still fun. Also, rugby is a massive sport in South Africa, and there is a local rugby team where we live. Our son not only watches professional rugby, but he also plays with his local club.
3. Learn the national anthem in your child’s birth country.
When our son returned home to the United States, we taught him the South African national anthem. We knew it would come up in various events and wanted him to be familiar with the song. Also, as a teacher, I knew he would learn the United States national anthem at school. Also, if he went to various events (sporting or not) with us, he would hear the American anthem repeatedly. Our son always smiles when seeing the South African flag on the players, watching them sing the South African anthem, and then watching their games. For example, we saw the swimmer Tatjana Schoenmaker with her Gold medal standing at the podium while the South African national anthem played in the background. I will never forget him smiling as he had his hand over his heart singing.
4. During the Olympics, watch games that include your child’s birth country and parents’ country.
My son loves sports, so he asks questions and tries to follow the different games. We must watch the games with both countries, even if it looks like their highlights. He needs to learn that some sports will be more critical to certain countries than others. He enjoys watching the USA games, singing the American anthem, and watching their games. The games with the USA will likely be on the regular channels. It’s helpful to get the Peacock channel and YouTube TV. Peacock is the best because you can see the whole game, not just the highlights that may only show the achievements of one team.
5. Follow the social media pages of your country and your child’s birth country.
It is tough following the different Olympians and their sports. The team pages are very helpful in introducing us to each player and in following their sport. Our family follows Team USA and Team South Africa because those are the countries represented in our home. While we are familiar with Team USA, we are unfamiliar with the South African Olympians. We want our son to be familiar with Olympians from his birth country, and following their team site will help us with this. It helps us keep up with their medal counts and the time of the games.
The Joy of the Olympics
My son and I decided to go for a walk, and the topic of conversation was the Olympics. He enjoys watching and playing all types of sports, so we knew he would be very interested in the Olympics as an eight-year-old. He shared with me that in the future, he wants to go to the Olympics for rugby and play for the Blitzboks (the South African rugby 7s). At this moment, I am proud of our family for being so culturally aware of our son that he gets the message very clear. I know it is due to our tips and steps during the Olympics.
Culture is essential to international adoption. As a South African here in America, nothing is impossible and out of reach for him. We will continue to watch the Paris Olympics and cheer on Team South Africa and Team USA.
