Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2012 21:20:37 GMT -5
How much do you try to enforce Family Fun? For Thanksgiving it is just me, DH and the kids. Most of the time, the 2 boys do their thing and dd does hers. However out of the spirit of a family holiday, i made them play together most of the day. They went out and played some basketball, some video games, then i got assorted help in the kitchen. After dinner, with some groans from the boys (and me) i pulled out Monopoly City. At first they didn't want to play cuz it does take so long, but as we got into it was fun.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2012 21:38:50 GMT -5
Shooby I do the same thing. Now my two Big Boys are 24 and 26, and they are really happy to play, and I don't get "the groans" anymore.
I find that shorter games work best: Twister, the game about working and getting paid (can't remember the name) and Cluedo. DS1 is ALWAYS happy to play Cluedo because he has won every single year, for 15 years LOL.
The last few years I've thrown it open to the kids and they have come up with great ideas too, and those games have become new traditions. We have two new games we play but I can't remember the names in French, let alone English LOL.
One game is you choose a letter of the alphabet. The others have to find a girl's name / boy's name / city / country / animal / tool / etc etc etc starting with that letter.
I used to tell mine that yes, you really do have to do this, and one day trust me, you will do it to your kids too LOL. But then at a certain hour I let them go, they all take a few leftovers and meet up with their friends.
DH originally did not agree with this, he wanted them home all night. Personally, I'd rather have them happy and participating for most of the day and evening than surly or unhappy for all of it because they knew they wouldn't be allowed to go out later.
Also, now that DS1 and DS2 are older, they don't have many opportunities to see their old friends. But they all come home for Xmas, so to me it's a win-win all around.
ETA: For us this is an issue at Xmas, but not Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a work day here. We celebrate, we have a family dinner and Thanksgiving chicken, but it's not an all-day affair for us. And we have no family here.
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mamasita99
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Post by mamasita99 on Nov 28, 2012 5:26:39 GMT -5
I have to "force" family fun every once in a while, too. Once they get started, though, the girls usually enjoy themselves and end up playing together for a while. At 13 and 9 they aren't old enough to drive or go anywhere for very long without me yet, so I sort of have them trapped ;D
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GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl
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"How you win matters." Ender, Ender's Game
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Post by GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl on Nov 28, 2012 9:01:58 GMT -5
I am an avid "family fun" enforcer, LOL. Board games, watching movies together, going for rides in the car together, checking out new places, etc. I have to ignore and fight through the groans which can be a challenge. And, to reinforce the good time we had, I always make certain to comment about how much fun we had as the activity comes to an end. Oh, and we use the silly comments/goof-ups/situations that came up during the family activity regularly as a shot of humor in the following days.
The kids are actually getting better at it. In the early teen years, it was more of a struggle. I just remind them that they do have another option: military boarding school. ;D
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Nov 28, 2012 9:40:31 GMT -5
Count me in as a fun enforcer. On Saturday, nobody wanted to do anything but watch tv and play video games. I gave everyone the choice of going to the movies or going ice skating. Props to my daughter for rallying, because with any more resistance, I would have caved. We had a blast ice skating. And then on Sunday we went to the movies.
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Wisconsin Beth
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Nov 28, 2012 9:52:12 GMT -5
Mine are much younger but we do puzzle marathons, where they pick a puzzle and we work it on the living room floor. Then another one. I think next time I'll suggest we see if all the puzzles we have will cover the living room floor... DH does the puzzles too but he's really slow. But he rocks at explaining to the kids how to figure out where the piece goes.
We've suggested some of the basic games for Christmas - Hungry Hippos, etc. We've got Disney Candyland and a Matching Game already that we play too.
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p8nt
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Post by p8nt on Dec 1, 2012 15:26:50 GMT -5
OH yea! ME!!!! I'll try to take pictures of the happiness tomorrow night when I force everyone to decorate the tree. DS 17 and DD18 seem to think that the ornaments just appear and the lights jump onto the tree. There will be gnashing of teeth and toddler like temper tantrums. I'm not sure why they complain about having to decorate the tree, they never complain about opening the gifts.
Because I work weekends, we don't have a lot of family time. We usually spend it talking at the dinner table, but occasion we do play games, cards, or watch a movie together.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2012 6:40:03 GMT -5
LOL! Well in his mind it WAS like walking across hot coals.
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mizbear
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Post by mizbear on Dec 10, 2012 18:32:09 GMT -5
I can honestly say that my family never had to force me to play with the younger kids.
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