Bill Belew has raised 2 bi-cultural kids, now 34 and 30. And he and his wife are now parenting a 3rd, Mia, who is 8.

Two men have faced off

John Harbaugh and Jim Harbaugh are facing off in this Sunday’s Super Bowl game.

Their teams, the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers faced off once before in 2011.

Older brother John’s team won that one. Perhaps dad would like to see them even up?

I can only imagine what dad Harbaugh must be thinking and I am sure somebody with better connections than I have already asked Jack and wife Jackie who they want to win the Super Bowl match up and wrote about it. Not only will dad be there with a tough decision, 97-year old granddad will be on hand as well.

I have 2 boys who have faced off before. Indeed not at this level. But the sentiment does NOT change no matter it’s a one-on-one hoops match up, a swimming race or … When a dad sees his kids face off he wishes for one thing and one thing only – that they don’t permanently hurt one another.

Dad realizes one of them has to win. Dad will hope the loser of the match for that day will realize that it’s just another game and that there are far more important things to life than winning one game. Dad will also hope that the winner of the match for that day will realize it’s just another game and ….

Dad will want the loser to lose gracefully, to get angry but not grudgingly so. To build his resolve to come back and show ’em next time. Dad will want the winner to win gracefully, not gloat and watch his back because he knows it will not be as easy to win the next time.

I used to tell my kids that I thought long and hard about which of them I love the most and I finally reached a conclusion.

“Who, Papa, who!?” They’d ask in union.

“It’s a tie!”

“Ahhh, we knew you’d say that,” they’d shout over their shoulders while running away.

Dad Harbaugh wants a tie, but he knows he won’t get it. (Will they let a Super Bowl end in a tie?)

He will want his sons to continue to love and respect each other no matter the outcome and to always look ahead or over their shoulder till next time.

And if Dad Harbaugh could really have his way, he’d like to see his boys face off a dozen times or more, but certainly an even number of times, and when both walk into retirement have the overall series end in … you guessed it, a tie.

Talk to Bill and others about their experiences raising bi-cultural Japanese-American kids.