I have a lot of goals for this year of slowing down but at the heart of it all, I am finding, is a desire to enjoy my family. Sometimes it feels impossible to squeeze in family time, but it doesn’t take much, just a few moments spent together having fun, to boost my energy and attitude. I think we all would agree as well that there is little more important than this in the life of a young child.
We have discovered in recent weeks that a quick card game or board game played right after dinner, before bath and bed for WJ, is an easy way to have a family moment of slowness. It is especially nice from my point of view on a Sunday evening to stretch out the togetherness of our meal and put off for a few more minutes the shuffle of getting ready for the new week.
Our current favorite is UNO. UNO is a perfect preschooler game, easy to adapt it for various levels of ability. WJ is five but we have been playing UNO together for at least a year. In the beginning, we removed all of the “special action” cards like Draw Two, Skip, and Reverse. He was then able to focus only on matching numbers and colors.
Holding and managing the cards in his hand is still difficult for WJ, so we taught him how to spread the cards out on the table. As his opponents, Dave and I can see what he has in his hand but that is fine for now. We are not exactly trying to grind him into dust when we play, not just yet.
As WJ gets older, he is beginning to develop an understanding of strategy, so we have started to introduce those special action cards back into the game. He loves to be able to change the color for his advantage or make one of us Draw Four. We don’t enforce the “say UNO or draw 400 new cards” rule yet. That will come next.
Last week, WJ slipped away while helping to clear the dinner table and Captain Hook returned in his place to join us for the evening’s match. As you can see, it is difficult to pick up cards with your hook. Of course, this suction cup clip is not actually a prirate's hook. It is actually, according to WJ, a toy breastpump left here by one of his Two Best Friends. But that is a story for another day.
I challenge you to fit something playful into your weekend. Let me know how it goes.
