Games Kids Play

"Destiny, I have a question for you," I called up the stairs.

"Why?" she responded, in one of those strange replies kids make. (Well, really those sort of replies are not really so strange; they are the result of an annoyed kid who imagines puttering about has just been interrupted by a demand to take out the dogs or perform some other chore and so they make a half-intelligible response hoping you'll just go away.)

Wishing to skipping the whole lecture on either A) how annoying it is when they don't listen &/or reply appropriately, or B) how they should come when called, not yell back -- however appropriate the response might be, I did what I usually do and answered the question.

"Because only you have the answer," I said.

It took Des a few minutes to play back the previous few lines of dialog. When she realized both what she'd asked and what I'd answered her face light up. "That's cool," she said as she came down the stairs.

Kids like to know they're important.

She was even happier when she discovered the question I had for her was an invitation to play a game with me and help me review it.

Which is why I don't like the 'family game night' set aside for every Tuesday or whatever. In our family, we rarely have such a predictable week as to keep nights reserved for such things -- and anyone expecting a game night would likely be disappointed as it was shoved 'til later in the week. Such expectations also seem to remove the fun of just calling kids over and asking if they want to play a game. Living up to game night would be surprising for we adults, but delivery of it would just be 'as expected' and not the surprise that just calling them over for a game is.

Getting back to the game review, I also wanted to mention that going to thrift stores etc. for old games is great fun & an inexpensive way to entertain kids. Just think, with a $20 you'd be lucky to get one new game; but at a rummage sale, flea market or thrift shop, well, you might even be able to get 20 games!

Yes, part of the fun is verifying that you have all the pieces. But hey, you & the kids are spending time together and they feel as victorious finding the missing game piece as they do winning the game.