Playing Games with Kids

Betty came over to eat breakfast with me one morning.

Mary phoned me during her lunch break today.

She said that though we have emailed lots, we haven’t really spoken lately.

She wondered if I liked all of the pictures she sent me.

I had to say yes, that their numbers and their quality are impressive.

She wanted to dress up in some of my jewellery.

These were shots she would take while she was here helping me but when the kids were over.

Probably the highlight of my days was when Richard and Miranda’s kids would come over.

The energy of each one of them seems to be multiplied when children come in threes.

We did a lot of Lego which really works, since side-by-side play results in the least amount of conflict between or among the kids.

Fewer arm strikes and less kicking under the table.

Who am I to say no to also
wearing heavy silver earrings.

And we played board games, but it was hard to get people playing the game where a timer goes off and you have no control over when it will sound.

And worse, when it does go off on your turn, you are out.

That doesn’t seem fair. No lucky dice are involved.

No strategy about which card to play first. No way to look at what your opponent is doing and then out think them.

You are out when some random timer goes off. The anxiety that this produces is pretty high. In fact Michael just said nope, he wasn’t playing.

Mary coaxed him in, since here was a good place to practise keeping anxiety down – over something that really doesn’t matter.

And then she found a red rose barrette
amongst the jewels.

But she didn’t really lay out her purpose for him in that manner.

Mary was good at making the game interesting from the point of view of garnering points and soon Michael was able to sustain play.

Part of this is because the timer had different sounds: jungle drums, or animals sounds from the forest.

There was also the choice of silence, a choice the children never made, but one that Mary and I thought was superior to the other two noises.

Michael got so that he could play the game with two hands, the left and the right, hitting the timer with one hand and making his marker go around the board so swiftly we hardly knew he had taken his turn.

She loves the velvet bodice on this dress.

I don’t know who was more amazed: Mary or me.

Mary finally told him that using two hands was fine, but he did have to wait until the player before him finished their move, until he started.

He was almost faster than they, so anxious was he to beat that clock and keep himself in the game.


Well, all of the above is only to say that Mary sent pictures to me of all of these kinds of play we did with the kids.

And then she said to me, “I have sent you more pictures to blog than any of your other kids.”

“Yes, you have,” I said, “and thank you.”

“Well, it just goes to show that I am your best child, and those pictures are my birthday gift to you.”

One last change of earrings and 
Betty was ready to eat breakfast.

Oh my gosh, she makes me laugh.

Arta