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The Games People Play (but not at my house)
I usually cruise for a few weeks on good-parenting mode, both of us relatively happy, food on the table, clean clothes on our backs, roof over our head, etc. But then every now and then I will be reminded of some area of Flipper's life that I feel as though I am woefully neglecting. These days, that area is GAMES.
No, not the ones I play with her (without her knowledge) to get her to do the things I want her to do, but normal, regular, kid-games, ones that require a little more brain-power, and, sadly, more parental participation than Candy Land. Uno. Old Maid. War. (Talk about a non-game!) Checkers. And so on.
Ones that do not require reading, but thinking and counting. A friend's children are already accomplished Uno and chess players, and so, as usual, a mild panicky-guilt swept over me when I realized that we do nothing like this, nothing at all. And so I set out to remedy the situation, priming the pump, so to speak, by reflecting on all the games we played in my family when I was growing up: Monopoly, Spade, Hearts, Trouble, Sorry...the list goes on.
My grandmother (who loathed games) would even indulge my love of Chinese checkers for HOURS in the basement of their West Virginia home, a coal fire glowing bluely from a nearby fireplace. I honestly expected this to be a no-brainer; that Flipper would be overjoyed at the chance to simultaneously learn something new AND get some undivided attention at the same time.
It seems as though I was mistaken. I mentioned checkers to her, and she reacted as though I suggested that we forgo all Christmas and birthday presents for the next 20 years or so. "NO!! I won't play!!!" "But, honey, it will be FUN! I promise!" She remained unmoved, and so, over her protestations, I dragged her to our local toy store (Ali Cats) and bought mancala, a game that has some sort of youth-group associations for me, but positive ones nonetheless, and Chinese Checkers, as a nod to my grandmother.
I think (I hope) that the lure of the polished stones and marbles will prove hard to resist, and she will get over whatever weird idea she has that our little homey evenings together will be torturous, and come to enjoy it. At the very least, I don't feel quite so lame anymore, but don't worry! Something new will definitely, undoubtedly crop up. It always does!!
Leigh appears Fridays on TriangleMom2Mom. Read more about Leigh on her blog Flipper and Me.
Leigh Sparacino
Leigh is a TriangleMom2Mom featured blogger, appearing every Monday.
Leigh grew up in Durham, attended college in North Carolina, left the area for an island off the coast of Georgia, the high mountains of Colorado, and her favorite mountains in western North Carolina, before returning to the Triangle eight years ago. She lives near Carrboro with her 4.5-year-old daughter Flipper and two dogs. She is single in marital status only, surrounded by friends, family, and her daughter's very involved and loving father. She works part-time and tries to be as involved as possible in her daughter's school, The Emerson Waldorf School, where Flipper is a kindergartner. She likes wood, glass and other natural materials for toys, loves the principles of Waldorf education and hates plastic. She might be the only person in the world with no TV and who hasn't been to a movie in 15 years, but races to the mailbox every Saturday for the most recent issue of People magazine. In other words, a contradiction. Or just human.
Comments
I would count myself in the non-Checkers camp. We love Skip-Bo which is of the same ilk as Uno, but a bit more strategy, in my opinion.