December 15, 2005
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One thing that I wish I had done more with my children is play games. Our family was not a ‘board playing’ family. I didn’t come from a game playing family so it wasn’t something I was used to doing, either.
I can see now that it would have benefited our family to play games together. My children were used to watching TV for an hour in the evenings so now that is how they spend their time with their own families. TV watching does not encourage a lot of communication between families. Plus, a person is hard-pressed to find much of value to even watch these days.
So, in God’s wisdom, he has given Grandmother’s a second opportunity to encourage their grandchildren in things that they wish they had done with their own children.
I’m not sure why things are so different with our grandchildren. The days were so busy and packed full when I was raising my family. There was so much work to do each day that I found it difficulty to stop and play with them. Of course, there were those times that we did take off and play. There were times we went camping, to the park, skating,etc. But, I’m talking about the every day routine of just spending time in the evenings playing a board game or cards. I really wish that I would have made it more of priority so that they would have established the habit of doing something in the evenings other than watching TV.
So, I’m trying to encourage this habit in my grandchildren. In our family room I have puzzles, checkers and a Geo Trak available. I slid a plastic mat under one of the couches so that it’s available at all times to use for the puzzles. I remember my Grandma, who is no longer living, always had a puzzle going. I have fond memories of us ‘working’ her puzzle together when I’d spend the night. My Dad always has a puzzle going in the winter time at the end of their kitchen table.
One of the first things my grandchildren say when they walk through the door is , “Gwammy, will you pway a game wit me?” My granddaughter LOVES to put together puzzles. Today she put together 4 puzzles in less than 30 minutes. “Grammy’ worked the outside edges and she worked on the inside of the puzzle. So much fun!
Comments (11)
Ohh we love to do puzzles around here too and can spend hours together doing one. Sometimes we talk while putting the puzzle together and then there are moments of silence. It is nice to be able to do both! :O) We found a few, that we really like, at a local thrift store for only 25 cents. Can’t beat that!
I’m burning the midnight oil tonight…I’m off to bed!
xoxo Cat
I love to do puzzles. My dd has limited the tv and they do play games together. No the tortilla’s weren’t low carb, but they were whole wheat and I only had one. That said my BG was a little high, 147. I think the combo of the tortilla and the beans was probably too much. I had the same thing tonight so I think I will have a lot of veggies for the next couple of days.
Putting puzzles together is relaxing, I think. It’s different with our grandchildren because we’re wiser now then when we were raising our children. If I had it to do over, there would be NO TV. I was raised without one, and my siblings and I never needed to be entertained. We made our own fun, played games, did puzzles, and had imaginations. I feel sorry for the children of today, don’t you?
RYC: No, I’m not 50, I’m in my sixties. Passed that “problem” many years ago anyway due to surgery. Sometimes I can be intense, and that can put my motor on high idle. When a person can physically work that off, it’s fine. My problem is my body no longer functions well enough to work it off. That’s when I’m better off just sitting down and writing. Once I go inside to the place only God & I share, I can confront the anxiety and God helps me relax through writing about it. I don’t really understand it, I just know it works for me.
Praise God for nurturers… How the children of this world need Christ-like adults to show them what real living and real Life is…
My kids couldnt sit still long enough,or had the attention span to play games.I wish we would’ve played more games too! We did alot of outdoor things when they were growing up too.We do what we can do.I think its great your doing this with your grandchildren!
Ah yes, (sigh), i wish i had spent more time playing games with my children. There just didn’t seem to be the time for it and i did not grow up playing games either. One of my dd’s has children that watch a lot of TV but the other 2 dd’s children have very strict tv watching rules. i wish my GK were close enough for me to do more of that, but God knows.
Thanks for visiting my site! If you go to toddagnew.com, you can hear a clip of the song. I heard it on KLOV. Love the post on playing games with your kids. Our “baby” is 13, and I really wish I would make myself play games with her – she loves board games. And our two grandbabies are too young yet. But I think that’s what we’re going to do to night. Thanks for the inspiration!!
You remind me of something I need to do…we occasionally have a BIG puzzle (1000 piece) that the whole family adds their $.02 to…and my youngest recently asked if we could put one out. We don’t have a large house, so we can’t leave them out 365 days a year.
We are having GAME NIGHT tonight with Aunt Debbie and Cousin Andrew – yeah!
Mrs B
hi there! just wanted to let you know that my daughter made it back safely to the U.S yesterday from her mission trip to Thailand. what a day! what a reunion! tho the time will be short here at home, we will enjoy all the moments it affords. thank you for praying for us as we travelled and as she has been gone all these months! i can’t tell you what a joy it is to my mother’s heart to lay eyes on her, and wrap my arms around her once again.
ooh! i love games and puzzles. recently i bought a box of jigsaw puzzles at wal-mart. there were 10 of them in the box. we’ve got 5 done in a year and i’m leaving them up and stacked on an unused desktop til i get all 10 done! SCRABBLE and UNO are the games of choice around here. we used to play all kinds of board games. in fact, sara said last nite that she not only missed the american cuisine, and family of course, but playing SCRABBLE with us too!
The enchiladas were chicken, the beans were on the side. I made these for my gd’s that’s why I used regular tortillas. I haven’t seen low carb ones. No I haven’t made any more desserts, but I may try your candy for Christmas. I have a few raisins when I want something sweet. .
We also did not play nearly enough games when our children were younger. The wonderful thing, I think, about games is that it’s just a fun way to spend time together and have general chit chat and laughter, without having to have a specific topic of conversation.