There’s tough-love parenting, and then there’s just “tough luck, kid!” Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson got a heaping helping of the latter last week when his Democrat parents each donated $2,700 — the maximum amount allowed by law — to support his opponent’s campaign. Which is bound to make Easter dinner exceptionally awkward.
But it got me thinking about the times I’ve rooted against my own kids, and whether it was the right thing to do. Since, you know, they’re not even Republicans.
For example, I recently found myself leaping into the air on the sidelines of a flag-football game screaming “YES! OH, MY GOD, YES!” as my quarterback son got sacked. By a girl. “Wrong team!” the other parents scolded me. “Yeah, but did you see that?” I bellowed. “She got him! That was fantastic!” No one had come close to sacking my elusive boy all season and then this determined chick — one of the few in the league — had zipped in out of nowhere and shut him down. Objectively, it was a beautiful thing, like watching Chloe Kim land back-to-back 1080s on the Olympic half-pipe. And it had to be celebrated.