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Is 5 too young.


24Charlie

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Took mine at that age; as others have said, take plenty of snacks, water & something for them to play with too, it’s a long time for them  to sit still!

I love to see young ones at matches- shame about the foul  language.

my daughter was 7 ish when she unfortunately saw some Preston fans going by in a coach mooning. We were playing them at Preston in the playoffs the following weekend & I’d got us tickets. all week she kept asking if she could do that if we won (clearly I said no!). I’m not going to lie when I say I was slightly relieved that we lost that match!! 

Edited by Nishfan
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Give it a go .. it won’t do any harm to be with his Dad doing boy/Dad stuff together. He’ll probably be bored, will deffo need a wee at the wrong moment but these are special moments. I got married too late to have kids but I took my nephew to PP for his first football game when he was 6. He loved it, he lives and breaths footy, got his refs qualifications. Worked at Sky Sports for a while and is now at discovery. We have weekly football catch ups. He’s a Luton Boy but always keeps an eye on the Rams and even though we lost to Charlton 3-1 he remembers the goal we scored like it was yesterday. I can’t ! ?

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4 hours ago, 24Charlie said:

A bit of advice please.

I'm toying with the idea of taking my grandson, who will be 5 next week, to the Man Utd friendly but I'm not sure if he's too young.

I thinking of using it a test event and if he likes it I'll get him a season ticket.

Does anyone on here take a child of this age?

I started going when I was about 3 months away from being 7. I remember (vaguely) my first game and that season, which was the Billy Davies promotion season. I'd say that was a good age for me, but I don't know if I would have remembered things as well had I started going the year before that. 

I must have asked a lot of questions because my brother (12 at the time) limited me to 20 questions per half!

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It's a tricky one and not one with a single answer really because it depends on the game and the kid really. One thing I will say is that 90 mins is a long time to expect football (as a spectator anyway) to amuse someone of that age. You will definitely need some distractions and as others have said, food, drinks and even a backstop of a phone game if you need to.

Key thing is, if it isn't a total roaring success first time at that age then don't be either too surprised or too downhearted. If you need to fall back on alternative entertainment plans during phases of a game then don't feel that you've failed. The entertainment nuances of a 0-0 draw with Luton in front of a flat crowd is hard to sell to a youngster. If you can get him to engage for a reasonable chunk of the game then take that. If the goals are flying in then it's easier to keep them entertained so basically with Derby you're screwed ?

I first took my lad when he was 7 for a Boxing Day game and he was swept up with the whole occasion and big crowd with plenty of noise. He has never been that fussed about a season ticket but he still comes to odd games with me and likes away games in particular.

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4 hours ago, 24Charlie said:

A bit of advice please.

I'm toying with the idea of taking my grandson, who will be 5 next week, to the Man Utd friendly but I'm not sure if he's too young.

I thinking of using it a test event and if he likes it I'll get him a season ticket.

Does anyone on here take a child of this age?

Taking your grandson. Has he been naughty??

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4 hours ago, 24Charlie said:

A bit of advice please.

I'm toying with the idea of taking my grandson, who will be 5 next week, to the Man Utd friendly but I'm not sure if he's too young.

I thinking of using it a test event and if he likes it I'll get him a season ticket.

Does anyone on here take a child of this age?

It really depends if think he sit still or stood still. 

I would recommend that maybe take him to under 23 game wont be as many there.

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4 hours ago, ollycutts1982 said:

I took my son at 5 and I think for him it was too soon. He’s 8 now and loves it. My advice would be take him but take plenty of sweets, treats and other bits to keep him occupied. 
 

I was so eager to take my lad but think taking him too soon put him off a bit. All kids are different though. 

Exactly this, I went for my first game at around 6 or 7.

Make sure you buy him chips at HT and he'll always want to come back. Slowly he'll watch more and more and before you know it he will be hooked.

Even now I'm still demanding those chips at HT while going to watch my team ❤ (much to my dad's displeasure, I'm 27, he tells me I can buy my own damn chips now if I want them ?)

Edited by DerbyRam!
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How does he get on with load noises? 

And be prepared to leave early!

The risk is putting him off ... if you take him too early! If he likes it ... all fine.

Maybe take him to the park, feed the ducks, and kick a ball about?

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And when you do go for the first match, Derby do a nice "first game" pack.

Also, plan your route ... with crowds jostling you as they rush along.

PS. I would wait until he wants to go.

PPS. Maybe visit the Mega Store on a non match day beforehand?

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I took my grandaughter, along with my son-in-law, when she was 6 years old, and she loves football, and stayed up last Sunday night to watch the Euro final.

My grandson, is now coming up that age, he'sfootball mad and stayed up and watched the Euro final up to the end of 90 minutes when he was falling asleep.

I'm thinking of taking him to the friendly vs Real Betis for his first game and I'm sure he'll look forward to it. My grandson always says come on Derby when I see him, however, he'll have to grow up to take the jibes as they live in Beeston, Nottingham!!!!

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My youngest came to a game at about 3 - got very excited pre game and tired himself out - fell asleep on me at kick off, woke up at half time. (No, it wasn’t West Stand).
 

Still glad I took him even if it was a bit uncomfortable (for me - he seemed very comfortable).

 

Will be back in the UK with me for the Huddersfield game so hasn’t done any long-term damage ? 

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