Tickle Tackle

When the boys were toddlers I used to play a game we called Tickle Tackle where I would basically tickling them until they yelled out “stop please.” If they didn’t say “please,” I would keep the torture going. Once they caught their breath, a timid “tickle please” could be heard. They loved it.

Years later, all I heard was football. They constantly worked on me, but I insisted they wait until high school before any tackling of the sport. Then I hoped they’d forget all about it. Of course they didn’t.

With YaYa, it was impossible to forget while BoBo was playing. Idolizing his older brother, he naturally was game for anything and everything his brother suggested. So instead of one child asking for Pop Warner, I had both of them working me. I finally caved, thinking I’d sign YaYa up, he’d try it, hate it, and I’d never hear about it again.

Guess you know how that turned out.

If anything, the year reprieve from tackle football only reinforced how much this truly is something HE wants to play rather than him simply playing because his big brother wanted him to. Now that he’s back, everyone can clearly see how happy he is to be back on the team.