Play Fair

It's a big time for baseball fans, as the regular season ends – and the playoffs begin – in less than two weeks. Your family may not be following the season all that closely, perhaps just closely enough to know when the Dbacks special is available at Taco Bell, but regardless, you may have heard of the records currently being challenged.

Albert Pujols or the St. Louis Cardinals recently became the fourth player ever to hit 700 career home runs, an incredible achievement. At the same time, Yankee Aaron Judge is chasing the single-season home run record, which currently stands at 73 – or maybe 61. Right now, Judge is #8, just behind Roger Maris. Significantly, spots 1 through 6 were all earned by players whose legacies include the use of performance-enhancing drugs. This is the source of a huge amount of debate within baseball fandom about what the true record is. Read what some folks have to say here.

This week, check out a game or two. Maybe you'll get to see Aaron Judge hit his 61st home run. As you watch, talk about what it means to break a record, and what it means to do so on your own versus taking a shortcut. Ask the young people in your family what they think about the home run record – is it fair to call 73 the record? Should there be an asterisk next to the names of those who used drugs to earn their place in the record books?

You might be surprised by their ability to engage on this topic, but kids as young as 12 months have the ability to understand fairness, at least as far as their own treatment is concerned, and by age 3 they begin to develop a sense of fairness towards others. In fact, scientists have done research on whether kids have a fundamental sense of fairness - read more about it on the Scientific American Blog. If you have a kiddo who struggles to play fair, or who doesn't handle losing very well, this is a great opportunity to talk about why that's so hard, and why it means more to win the right way. You might also bring in some of your favorite Bible verses concerning fairness – there are plenty to choose from! With older kids, you can also broach the topic of drug use in a larger sense, which unfortunately is becoming an increasingly urgent discussion to have as they grow.

When you're done talking about baseball, fairness, and setting records, you can go outside and try to set some of your own! Here are some games you might try:

• Have a game of catch and track how many times you successfully throw and catch the ball – then try to break your record

• Set up a box or basket and take turns trying to throw the ball into the container – who can hit the target the most times? Who can make a throw from the farthest distance?

• If you have a tee, can try to "Babe Ruth" it (choose a location and try to hit the ball there) and see who gets the closest

• You might also teach your kids a playground game like 500 (earning points by catching the ball in the air or on the ground as called out by the thrower) or Pickle (basically running down and trying to tag baserunners as they try to steal a base)

Whatever games you choose to play, have fun, play fair, and earn some records that don't require an asterisk! And maybe treat yourself to some tacos when you're done ;-)

What are your thoughts on the home run record? What records has your family decided to chase? Share with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!