re: In need of Fatherly advice...

Took my 5 year old to his first this past season. We were gone by the half. My suggestions would be:

The kids that age have more fun tailgating than going to the actual game. If you can work it out so that they stay with friends relatives at the tailgate during the game, that may be good. 8 seems to be a better age for staying for and enjoying a full game.

Pick a game that you know will be a blowout. Kids like scoring, and you can bet that you will not stay the whole game and make more than a few trips to the concession stand and the restroom.

Stay away from the student section.

two r three yrs ago I was faced with the same situation. My decision was to take my two and 4 yr old at the time. My 2 yr old never remembered,and was miserable due to the noise, all the people, the cramped sits, and the heat.
If it is a night game, is cool in good sits with people u know around them, it might work, other than that , I am not sure I would do it again, depends on the temperment of the child too. I wish you the best with your decision. Goodluck

Some of our friends say they've never seen our boys (twins) w/o some type of sports ball in their hands, mainly a baseball. We took them to their first Atlanta Braves game when they were 4 and a half, thinking that if they made it through a couple of innings we'd be thrilled. They wanted to go for sure, but we thought sitting way up top in Turner Field wouldn't keep them busy for long. I do not lie when I tell you they watched the entire game, chatted it up with their dad the whole time. With all due respect, some of it is about how disciplined your kids are (for example, if they can't sit through a 1-hr mass they aren't going to sit through a 4-hr football game) and what their attention span is. Ours have never had the first video game in the house, have always had to entertain themselves playing ball out in the yard, and whadda ya know: they can sit through an entire baseball or football game any day. Heck, they can even read an entire book w/o pictures!

I think if you take a two year old to a football game, you are just doing it so that you can tell others that you did it....in my experience with kids younger than about 6 or 7, it is just too easy for the whole shite to become a very bad experience for them....they don't have any attention span at all, they get completely overstimulated by the noise and sights, the temperature is often unplesant, etc.....at that age, you are better off to let them play while tailgating and get to some ac when the game comes on....