In just a few days, millions of people around the world will be turning on their TV sets to see one of the most watched and anticipated sporting events of the year, the Super Bowl. Where are you going to watch it, and with whom? Will you be taking in this event with friends, relatives, co-workers, neighbors? Or will you use the Super Bowl as an important time to be with your immediate family, a time to help your children learn valuable lessons about our society and your family’s place within it?

“Wait a minute,” you might be thinking. “Even though the family-friendly push following the famous Janet Jackson halftime incident has resulted in a cleaned up halftime show, you can’t be serious about the Super Bowl being a family event, can you?”

Yes, we are. We are totally serious about making this year’s Super Bowl a meaningful family celebration; and we suggest you use it to educate, bond, plan, question, and model healthy living for your children.

Whether or not the Super Bowl is a family event that is educational, connecting, and delivers redeeming values does not depend on the program editor, the event sponsors, or FDA regulations. It depends on you, the parent, and how you choose to use this sports extravaganza. From the pre-game show to the post-game celebrations, your role is critical. The commercials, the halftime show, the participants, the spectators and the game itself, can all be used to turn this sporting event into a valuable parenting opportunity.

To turn this year’s Super Bowl into more than a football game, to make it an experience that the entire family will enjoy and learn from, consider the suggestions which follow.

1. Plan ahead. Decide as a family on a menu of snacks, favorite foods and drinks. Model consensus-seeking and how decisions are made democratically. Shop together for the items on the list. Again, working as a team (just like the football players), prepare the food, making sure to get everyone involved in the process.
2. Develop a tradition. Some families have a special dish or dip that they make every year just for this special game. Be alert for those portions of how you celebrate this day that could be turned into a Super Bowl ritual.
3. Watch together. Sit with your children as they view the game, commercials, and/or halftime show. It is not a family event if the children are dispensed to a different room to play so you can watch the game “in peace”. Move the furniture in the living room so that all can see the television at a similar angle. Be there with one another.
4. Make predictions.  Who will win? What do you think the final score will be? Will the next play be a pass or a run?
5. Evaluate. Is your team doing better or worse than you expected? How are some of the other roles-the announcers, fans, and referees-being handled? What about the coaches?
6. Rules. Review the rules of the game and the importance of those rules. Are there rules made for the safety of the players? Are some made to make the game more exciting? How are the rules of the game the same or different than the rules we have in our home?
7. Commercials. Discuss what the commercials are actually trying to sell. What messages are they using to sell the products? What types of influence are the commercials using? Do sex and cars go together? What about beer and companionship? Why would a company pay one million dollars for a one minute commercial?
8. Share family values. If something happens during the halftime show or in a commercial that does not fit with your family values, point that out. Use the moment as a teaching opportunity and initiate a discussion about the incident. Use this learning opportunity to reaffirm what your family believes, and how those beliefs are put to use by you and your family on a regular basis.
9. Model sportsmanship. If a “bad call” is made or if your team loses, demonstrate to your children how a mature person handles disagreement or disappointment. Avoid yelling or name-calling. Know that your children are paying attention to how you react during these important moments. Remember that attitudes are more easily caught than taught.
10. Minimize the drinking of alcohol. Your children will have plenty of examples of alcohol use and abuse throughout their life. What they need on this day is an example of how adults can have fun and enjoy an event without the use of alcohol. Send a message to your children that models responsibility by minimizing the use of alcohol

This year, why not create a family event around the Super Bowl that is more about connectedness and family values than it is about the game? It’s not the final score that will make this year’s game an event to remember. It is how you choose to use and view the Super Bowl that will create the strongest and most lasting impression.

Thomas Haller and Chick Moorman