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As a mommy of four, I’m often looking for lessons to teach my children, amidst the chaos of reviewing homework, packing lunches, scheduling play dates, chauffeuring them to school, basketball, dance, gymnastics, acting and the like.  I love it when I find a lesson or two or four in the least expected places.  Last night, while watching the Super Bowl with my family, I thought of a few good lessons worth teaching.  My kids were happy to play with their cousins, and didn’t focus much on the game until the half-time show.  To be honest, the first half wasn’t very exciting from my perspective either.

My 5-year-old daughter loves music and has fun dancing around to the latest Top 10 single.   My 8-year-old son usually keeps me current by asking me to buy a song on iTunes, albeit from an artist I’ve often never heard of.  My 10-year-old son loves to act, sing, play guitar and perform. How fabulous then that Madonna’s Roman-themed half-time show included some “classic” hits from my youth – “Like a Prayer,” “Vogue” and “Express Yourself,” as well as help from some younger pop music performers, like Nicky Minaj, M.I.A. and LMFAO. (On an aside, I’m just glad my kids didn’t ask me what LMFAO stood for.  My brother and sister-in-law had a good laugh over the fact my husband didn’t know.)

The Material Girl appeared like royalty when an army of muscle men lifted her throne across Lucas Oil Stadium to the stage for her opening song, “Vogue.”  So what if Madonna appeared to stumble later.  She moves better than I could ever have dreamed of at 25, and the Queen of Pop is now in her 50s.  Listen up kids.  Lesson #1 – when you constantly reinvent yourself to keep up with the times (while always remaining true to who you are), you will NEVER, and I repeat NEVER go out of style.

Madonna has sold more than 300 million records worldwide, and is recognized as the world’s top-selling female recording artist of all time by the Guinness Book of World Records.  Say what you want about her singing, pushing the envelope kind of performing, acting, personal life, etc., but remember this, in 2008, Billboard magazine ranked Madonna as number two, on the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists, behind only The Beatles (yes, The Beatles!), making her the most successful solo artist in the history of the Billboard chart. That’s right kids. That same year, she was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Time has also considered her to be one of the “25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century” for being an influential figure in music.

The other great take-away from Super Bowl XLVI – Lesson #2 is this – even those with a rough start and the odds stacked against them can go on to become Champions.  The Giants, a team I used to love watching as a little girl in the dead of winter with my dad in good ole East Rutherford, NJ during the Phil Simms days, sure taught our children that lesson this year.  Big Blue almost didn’t make the playoffs, needing plenty of help at 7-7 with two games left.  They were the first team in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl after having been outscored by their opponents in the regular season.  With a 9-7 record, the Giants became the third NFL team to win fewer than 10 games in a non-strike season and reach the Super Bowl, but became the first nine-win (or 9-7) team to win the Super Bowl.

Eli Manning, Giant’s two time Super Bowl quarterback, taught yet another lesson (Lesson #3) about the importance of remaining calm under pressure when he completed 30 of 40 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown, without throwing any interceptions despite being pressured enough for three sacks by the Patriots.   Manning, the team’s Most Valuable Player also sent out a message, Lesson #4 to our sons and daughters, about how no team ever won a Super Bowl based on one athlete’s game – instead demonstrating the importance of teamwork. A MVP quarterback’s pass (as amazing as it might have been) is perhaps only worth talking about the day after a Super Bowl if a receiver manages to catch it solidly and keep both feet inbounds in a move (with two defenders around him) that might have some prima ballerinas impressed (nice play, Mario Manningham).   As Manning said: “There at the end when we had an opportunity in the fourth, quarter, we’d been in those situations and we knew that we had no more time left. We had to go down and score and guys stepped up and made great plays.”  That, they sure did.

At the end of the half-time show, Madonna disappeared in a puff of smoke as the words “World Peace” were projected onto the field.  What a powerful ending with a wonderful message.  That said, I wish for my children and our youth – world peace, Manning’s grace under pressure, and the knowledge that practice, discipline, perseverance and above all, perhaps, belief in one’s self – can make champions out of even those with the slowest of starts.  I also would like to remind my kids that if Madonna still has it going on in her 50′s, the rest of us moms, who can sing her lyrics by heart, aren’t necessarily out of touch either, even if we didn’t know who MIA was until you asked us to download it from iTunes.

  2 Responses to “Monday Morning (Mommy) Quarterbacking – Lessons for our Children from Super Bowl XLVI”

  1. Shari you said this so perfectly…So true. I Always look forward to seeing your quotes and words each day.

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