Doing a little rereading. Love this topic. Of course it occurred to me I have better have something amazing to say if I'm posting on an article 3 weeks old. I loved the car game invented by us parents with noisy kids called Peep. No one can make a noise and the first one that does loses the Peep game. We keep playing until we get home or to Cincinnati. What an ingenious Tom Sawyer like way to quiet a car. Parents 1 Kids 0
My “kids” are 22, 26, and 28, and I’ve mostly mastered being able to treat them like adults. Training myself anew now that I have grandkids though. Haha. Your line about having just read about bear attacks made me laugh out loud.
Ever played Poetry for Neanderthals? It’s like Taboo, but a lot goofier.
Our extended family shared a large house in Tennessee which afforded so many varied activities. Our favorite evening game was Ransom Notes. I never knew my family was so hilariously bawdy! We laughed until we cried!
They are The Fox Islands... about an hour by ferry which you have to book a year in advance from Rockland to Vinalhaven where it helps to have a car, but there are only 400 people total, a tiny stone library with Nancy Drew books, and everyone waves to one another and you get your fish fresh off the dock. There's zero cell service or there was... the other tiny Island you sail to, has the best ice cream... that's North Haven... Also zero a*sshole service :)
I'm gonna have to get that board game! Our current favorite is Code Names, in which you & your teammates have to pick the least "bad" answer. So much fun! It's an effort to force myself to play a game after dinner when all I want to do is curl up with a book in bed, but I'm always glad when I do.
Favorite bonding with the girls is epic adventures... a road trip across France, or a summer on a really difficult-to-get-to-island off the coast of Maine (the difficulty of getting there keeps all the a*sholes at bay) or a weekend of musicals and Central Park time. Favorite game(s) ... Shut the Box--an old ship's game or Banangrams or writing a play together... but if I'm with really uptight people, I find Cards Against Humanity always forces them to misbehave and laugh and it's wonderful :)
CK -- This is fantastic. So much great stuff to comment on.
(1) Even though it is hard sometimes, I think one of the primary job of a parent is to provide a net for bad decisions and create independent kids that can make great decisions even when we don't like them at first blush. Love your strategy.
(2) Later in life I came to embrace the mantra about sharing an opinion. Unless I can go 3 for 3 I try to bite my tongue (a) does it need to be said (b) does it need to be said by me (c) does it need to be said now. Amazing how rarely the 4 apply.
(3) Blank Space sounds like a blast -- going to seek it out! Cards Against Humanity is excellent! Your readers seem to have good taste in games. For group board games I love the game Balderdash.
(4) Three boys and two DILs. Games we all play together are like nothing else. Always the highlight of time together. Many years ago, my wife created what she named "The Frosty Games". They are just games we can all play with each other. A bit of competition and just lots of fun! We now do it for many holidays. My wife ran the games for so many years. Now I have the baton. It is fun to put them together.
*Blank Space* sounds like perfect game night fodder: inspiration for either memories or a shouting match. Well done, I love the skydiving note. Staying neutral there is beyond my poker face's powers.
Monopoly, Scrabble, Bananagrams, Gin Rummy are all fun. Pre-COVID, I had some dearhearts over for a game of Cards Against Humanity, and I don't think we ever laughed or shouted so loud (apologies to my neighbors; we went past curfew that night). xo
This reminds me of a time when both my boys (24, 19) were training me to text/say “That sounds great! I’m so proud of you” no matter what they were doing (climbing a cliff, traveling alone to some remote place etc.) It really made me stop and notice what I was saying. I enjoyed this!
Oh the joy of texting in keeping me (or at least slowing me down) from giving that unsolicited advice to my daughter. That and discovering that I could text from my laptop, because texting from my tiny phone was just not going to happen!
Trying not to give unsolicited advice to our adult kids will be the work of a lifetime, literally for the rest of our lifetimes. Yikes. If only we knew when they were babies that was the easy part!
This sounds silly but one of my fav ways to bond with my kids is to go to a restaurant or cafe, just the two of us. It doesn't get to happen often, because we don't live in the same town, so it's special when it does.
Thanks for the tip about the game, I'm going to look for it. You could try the game Cards Against Humanity next time, it can be outrageous and make your tummy hurt from laughing. Best played with adult children!
Doing a little rereading. Love this topic. Of course it occurred to me I have better have something amazing to say if I'm posting on an article 3 weeks old. I loved the car game invented by us parents with noisy kids called Peep. No one can make a noise and the first one that does loses the Peep game. We keep playing until we get home or to Cincinnati. What an ingenious Tom Sawyer like way to quiet a car. Parents 1 Kids 0
My “kids” are 22, 26, and 28, and I’ve mostly mastered being able to treat them like adults. Training myself anew now that I have grandkids though. Haha. Your line about having just read about bear attacks made me laugh out loud.
Ever played Poetry for Neanderthals? It’s like Taboo, but a lot goofier.
Our extended family shared a large house in Tennessee which afforded so many varied activities. Our favorite evening game was Ransom Notes. I never knew my family was so hilariously bawdy! We laughed until we cried!
Board games are great. My favourite is still Scrabble, but it doesn't work for everyone. Games which get people acting silly are always good.
They are The Fox Islands... about an hour by ferry which you have to book a year in advance from Rockland to Vinalhaven where it helps to have a car, but there are only 400 people total, a tiny stone library with Nancy Drew books, and everyone waves to one another and you get your fish fresh off the dock. There's zero cell service or there was... the other tiny Island you sail to, has the best ice cream... that's North Haven... Also zero a*sshole service :)
I'm gonna have to get that board game! Our current favorite is Code Names, in which you & your teammates have to pick the least "bad" answer. So much fun! It's an effort to force myself to play a game after dinner when all I want to do is curl up with a book in bed, but I'm always glad when I do.
Favorite bonding with the girls is epic adventures... a road trip across France, or a summer on a really difficult-to-get-to-island off the coast of Maine (the difficulty of getting there keeps all the a*sholes at bay) or a weekend of musicals and Central Park time. Favorite game(s) ... Shut the Box--an old ship's game or Banangrams or writing a play together... but if I'm with really uptight people, I find Cards Against Humanity always forces them to misbehave and laugh and it's wonderful :)
CK -- This is fantastic. So much great stuff to comment on.
(1) Even though it is hard sometimes, I think one of the primary job of a parent is to provide a net for bad decisions and create independent kids that can make great decisions even when we don't like them at first blush. Love your strategy.
(2) Later in life I came to embrace the mantra about sharing an opinion. Unless I can go 3 for 3 I try to bite my tongue (a) does it need to be said (b) does it need to be said by me (c) does it need to be said now. Amazing how rarely the 4 apply.
(3) Blank Space sounds like a blast -- going to seek it out! Cards Against Humanity is excellent! Your readers seem to have good taste in games. For group board games I love the game Balderdash.
(4) Three boys and two DILs. Games we all play together are like nothing else. Always the highlight of time together. Many years ago, my wife created what she named "The Frosty Games". They are just games we can all play with each other. A bit of competition and just lots of fun! We now do it for many holidays. My wife ran the games for so many years. Now I have the baton. It is fun to put them together.
*Blank Space* sounds like perfect game night fodder: inspiration for either memories or a shouting match. Well done, I love the skydiving note. Staying neutral there is beyond my poker face's powers.
I love this essay! So apropos! We had both kids living with us during the lockdown and played Catan all the time. It became my favorite game!
Monopoly, Scrabble, Bananagrams, Gin Rummy are all fun. Pre-COVID, I had some dearhearts over for a game of Cards Against Humanity, and I don't think we ever laughed or shouted so loud (apologies to my neighbors; we went past curfew that night). xo
This reminds me of a time when both my boys (24, 19) were training me to text/say “That sounds great! I’m so proud of you” no matter what they were doing (climbing a cliff, traveling alone to some remote place etc.) It really made me stop and notice what I was saying. I enjoyed this!
Oh the joy of texting in keeping me (or at least slowing me down) from giving that unsolicited advice to my daughter. That and discovering that I could text from my laptop, because texting from my tiny phone was just not going to happen!
Trying not to give unsolicited advice to our adult kids will be the work of a lifetime, literally for the rest of our lifetimes. Yikes. If only we knew when they were babies that was the easy part!
This sounds silly but one of my fav ways to bond with my kids is to go to a restaurant or cafe, just the two of us. It doesn't get to happen often, because we don't live in the same town, so it's special when it does.
Thanks for the tip about the game, I'm going to look for it. You could try the game Cards Against Humanity next time, it can be outrageous and make your tummy hurt from laughing. Best played with adult children!