My child is obsessed with baseball.  O. B. S. E. S. S. E. D.  When he wakes up in the morning, we can hear him singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame in his crib, and when we ask him how he slept, he will tell us point blank, “I dream about baseball.”  It’s adorable.

It can also get old fast.  There is only so much I can do to give days variety and expand his toddler horizons when all he wants to do all day is drag around his bat and whack his baseball around like a golfer yelling “home run!”  Not only is it exhausting sometimes, but his obsessive nature can be limiting.  He won’t play with any other toys, he only wants to read the same Cubs ABC’s book over and over, and I worry that he won’t always connect with other kids when they don’t want to play baseball too.

All of that said, I consulted with his pediatrician at his 18 month appointment about it, and the doc made some excellent points.

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1) This is very, very typical of toddlers.  Totally normal.  Whether it is Minnie Mouse, trucks or our nation’s pastime, kids fixate.  And that is 100% okay.

2) If you think outside the box, there are ways to incorporate a toddler’s obsession with everyday life.  Counting the innings, identifying colors of the uniforms, talking about the players feelings when they win or lose, what baseball players eat to get big and strong – all of these things are relevant in toddler learning, and while they incorporate baseball, they aren’t strictly gross motor running and pitching and batting.


Mr. Confetti and Colin at our first game of the season

Here are some of the things I have done to try to diversify our routine in the throes of this obsession:

1) Rather than just perusing Amazon or our library shelves, I talked to our local children’s librarian and asked for suggestions for children’s baseball books.  And she gave me a ton that we were able to take home right away.  From alphabet themed books like H is for Homerun and B is for Baseball to kids nonfiction that explained the rules and regulations like My Baseball Book to stories of animals who play baseball like Quacky Baseball, Pete the Cat Play Ball and Curious George at the Baseball Game.  Not only does having a variety of books help keep me from losing my mind, but shaking it up is helpful to keep the little guy from being so rigid. Many of the stories with characters playing games also teach valuable lessons, like trying your best, being a good sport and that winning isn’t the only thing that matters.  And the best part – I spend no money at all; his favorites can be renewed or eventually purchased, and the choices are endless.

2) Using other toys to incorporate a baseball theme.  Last week, we spent a ton of time playing games of baseball with the animals in his toy farm on one team and his race cars on the other.  We set them up in baseball formation and they took turns batting and fielding.  It was adorable, and it helped shake up the toys from their perches where they were collecting dust.  This could probably be done in other ways, no matter what the toddler obsession is.

3) Engaging in the conversation.  It’s easy for me to just say “uh huh” and “yep” when Colin tells me for the trillionth time that he went to the baseball game.  Since it seems that we have to talk about it nonstop, I am trying to diversify the conversation. Colin isn’t great yet with actually answering questions when I ask them, but I am working on it.  We talk about all of the different positions, what position he wants to play (pitcher, obvi), if the players ran fast or slow, far or close, etc.  We count the bases, talk about the colors we see at the stadium, what special food we eat at the stadium (jumbo pretzels – yum), the sound of the crowd, the smell of the hot dogs and freshly mowed grass. We sing the National Anthem, the local team victory song, and of course, Take Me Out the Ballgame. The endless baseball discussion still grate on me by the end of the day, but at least I feel like Colin is expanding his vocabulary, and we are reinforcing new concepts and heightening his senses.

4) Fueling the fire.  Since this obsession started small and quickly snowballed, at some point Mr. Confetti and I figured “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”  Rather than trying to redirect Colin to diversify his interests, we are rolling with it and giving him opportunities to experience his interests first-hand. If it were trains, we would ride one. If it were trucks, we’d check out a monster truck event. Since it is baseball, we have found a way to go to the games. We live very close to our local stadium, so we scalp tickets on the weekend and go to the game after nap time, usually from the 4th – 9th innings.  We stroll around the stadium when we take walks, and we will even treat Colin to extra TV time on the weekends the Cubs travel to watch the game. Watching a game together means discussing the mechanics of the game, building patience (since of course, baseball is the world’s most boring sport) and spending quality time together as a family.


Who knew when we took C to a game last summer that it would be the beginning of such a journey?!

Is your toddler obsessed with anything?  How do you encourage their interests?