Game Night

For the past week, my son J has been wanting some father/son play time. I haven't really had time or the energy for play time lately. Even when my kids wanted me to read them a story at bed time, I have just been really tired. I know that is not really an excuse, but it is hard to read a story when I am so tired that I can't see the words.

So last night, I decided we would have a family game night. No, television, no video games, no electronic anything. Just plain old games like I used to play when I was their age. The kids were really excited, except for maybe my teenage step-daughter.

After dinner, we all went to the back room where there is plenty of room on the carpet to set up games. Unfortunately, we don't have many games that more than four people can play at a time that my younger kids can play. Monopoly is a little advanced for a five and seven year old. We do have some of the classics like Sorry, Trouble, Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, and two old classics, Smess and Uncle Wiggley,but they are only for four people. We were six last night.

We started off with a game called Hiss that my wife and I found in San Diego a number of years ago. It is perfect for younger kids. You get cards that are parts of a snake, head, body or tail. You draw a card and try and put one together. The body parts are different color so they have to be matched up. The kids really like it.

Next, we played another card game called Hit the Deck. It is similar to Uno but not as fun. It was not a big hit (no pun intended). After that let down, I thought they would enjoy a game of Uncle Wiggley. This was a game that I had found at a yard sale a long time ago. It was a game I used to play in like second or third grade at school so I got it thinking my kids would like it. Well, it wasn't as fun as I remembered it, but the kids were troopers and they finished the game. I doubt that they will be excited about playing it again.

For the last game, my step daughter picked Cars Uno. It basically plays like the original Uno but with different wild cards. One card let you swap cards with another player. The kids liked it with one of my kids throwing a short fit. But what young child doesn't throw a little fit once and a while? That's what I thought.

That took us to past nine in the evening which so happens is their bed time for weekends. I got them all off to bed, my wife was already in bed because she had to get up at five in the morning for work. I really wanted to get the dishes done so that I could watch a movie or work on some writing. But, instead I fell asleep on the couch as usual and woke up around midnight. I felt more tired than when I fell asleep but the dishes had to be done. Then it was off to bed for me.

Despite the fact that fell asleep during my movie time, I did get to play games and have fun with my kids. We all had fun. That is what matters. Doing fun things together. Hopefully they will have good memories of their child hood and will do the same with their kids.

Cheating to Lose

Earlier today, my four year old daughter asked me if I would play a card game with her. I said I would and asked her to pick one. She came back with Barbie Uno.

We have like six different versions of Uno with each one just a little different. This time she wanted the Barbie version. During the first game she seemed reluctant to put down cards that she could have and preferred to draw as if she didn't have any to play. But, in the end she won the first game. Through the whole second game, she did everything she could do to not win. She put down a card that allows her to trade cards with me when she only had two left and I had a big stack. I asked her why she was playing like that and she responded, "Because I want you to win Daddy." She wanted me to win this game because she won the first game.

In other words, she was cheating so that I could win a game. How cute is that? I guess she felt sorry for me.

My youngest son, nine years old, does the same thing with checkers. He tries really hard not to jump any of my pieces so that I will win. This is not a very practical stratagem for checkers. There are times where jumping is the only move you can make.

The fact that they would go to these lengths so that I could win is very touching. They must have gotten if from me. I do the same thing during game play with my kids sometimes. I don't know a parent that hasn't done the same with their kids. We can't help it. It is in a parents nature and job description do let our kids win at thing sometimes.