Facetime – Your kids want to spend time with you.
In the harried moments of almost every work day, I find myself responding to statements and questions like these:
- “Mom! I want to show you something!”
- “Mom! Can you come here?”
- “Mom! Do you want to watch Frosty the Snowman with us?”
With excuses like these:
- “In a minute! I need to switch laundry loads!”
- “Your noodles are on the stove! I don’t want to burn dinner!”
- “I wish I could, but I’m <insert whatever thankless, yet necessary activity it is I am doing at the moment here>!
There is no excuse. Laundry can wait. Noodles are a little more important, but still – I’ve come to realize that at the end of any particular evening, I rarely see visible progress around the house anyhow. Frosty the Snowman is on but once a year, and spending that short time with the kids is important for all of us.
One way to pack a good punch in terms of quality time is to play a game, such as the Original Memory
This got me to thinking… Why don’t adults play more board games? I have a whole closet full of them, and every time I have bribed friends into playing, we’ve all said “we should really do that more often.” Yet, there they sit, dusty in the closet.
On Christmas, I am going to bring one or two of my games to my Mom and Dad’s house, and see if I can talk my family into playing once the kids are asleep. There are so few opportunities for us to get together and laugh these days, face to face! Playing games is one way to put down the crackberries, relax and even learn more about each other.
There is a cool contest on the MOMformation blog that I hope I win… It includes Scene It? Seinfeld
How fun would THAT be?
Some of the best parties with friends have included a never ending game of “Catch Phrase”. I’m looking forward to trying out the “Trouble” game that I got at a rummage sale this summer. Hearing that familiar pop-pop of that dice dome will bring back childhood memories.