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Health & Fitness

Name That Character!

Looking for a quick and easy way to engage your kids? Here's one for any age and any level!

It’s time for the all-important family meal(s).  Everyone is seated.  Mom has jumped up the proverbial 100th time to grab the missing drink, napkin, fallen fork. Food is passed and conversation begins.  Or does it?

OR, the kids are bickering, getting up, ______________ (fill-in-your scenario here).

I hold the idea of family meals in very high regard.  And I have definitely been slacking when it comes to focusing on the value of that 30+ minutes of family time. This past week has taught me a thing or twenty about our daily life and the changes to be made when normalcy resumes.  

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Our power was out for 6 days due to the freaky storm that hit last Friday. My girls were amazing!  (and the sweets, trips to the bookstore, fireworks and endless hotel pool didn’t hurt!—rough, I know!)  But, as kids are creatures of habit, eating and sleeping definitely put them to the test. They were well-behaved in restaurants and slept wherever without too much of a fight (and one last tv show). All while it was 100 degrees outside. And they are only 6 and 3.

The last night put us to the ultimate test.  Eating dinner in our hotel room kitchen.  We bought/brought enough to actually cook pasta and salad.  We sat down at a nice little kitchen table. And it started.  The 3-year-old like a jack rabbit every 30 seconds…up, down, up, down.  And both girls arguing over the coloring book pages we bought earlier in the day.  And…..and…

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And….I was ready to scream!

All of the sudden my husband starts whistling the Jeopardy theme song. He grabs a piece of paper and a pen, speaks in his best game-show host voice and starts firing questions at the girls.  

”Name a character in Scooby Doo, Imagination Movers, Sesame Street…”  The final question had them identify the name of a character from context clues, ie: he’s short, lives with 6 friends and a princess and isn’t very happy, etc.  Can you guess?  Grumpy!  Right!  They each got a turn to answer and the “first one” to ten wins. (Of course they both won :)  

This game can be applied to any scenario and can fit any level—-books, food, sports teams, states, presidents, the list goes on.  It’s great for car rides, dinner, doctor’s visits. And it is amazing how much the little ones recall, articulate, work together and laugh!

Even if you only have 20 minutes together and the “What did you do today?” isn’t soliciting a response, pick a category. Play a game.  Laugh with your kids.  And quick, name a character from The Flinstones….and you can’t say Fred! 

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