We know guys like Boston Celtics forward Gordon Hayward and other NBA players as some of the world’s finest athletes, but at home, they’re simply “daddy.” But what they’re quickly finding out in this hiatus is that with nowhere to go and a lot of time to kill, it’s tough to always be happy around the kids.
Hayward is one of the players profiled in a piece by ESPN’s Zach Lowe on parenting in during this shutdown.
“I think I’ve watched ‘Frozen’ 35 times already,” Hayward said.
The Haywards have three daughters and a son on the way. His oldest daughter, Bernie, is four-years-old, and this season has been joining Dad as part of his pregame routine.
Bernie and her younger sister Charlie are finally old enough to regularly go to Celtics games.
“This was the first season they actually liked to go,” Hayward told Lowe. “And not to watch me play. Just to hang out. They miss that.”
“Bernie is going to be very good,” Hayward’s wife Robyn said at a girls clinic the Haywards hosted over the summer. “Charlie’s strong, but doesn’t have the interest, which is fine. Bernie is very interested and she learns quickly, so, she likes every sport, which we want her to play every sport. All of our kids, whatever they want to do, I don’t want to limit them to one thing, especially when they’re young.”
Bernie and Charlie are also old enough join daddy, an avid gamer, in Pokemon & Mario Kart games. Hayward is one of a few NBA players in the piece, including former Celtic Al Horford. Hayward expressed a new appreciation for stay-at-home moms, teachers, and nannies.
