Saturday, 21 July 2007
What's Hot, What's Not?
The following excerpt from a forwarded e-mail sounds like a cool ice-breaker and conversion maker within the family ...
- Kaleem Aziz.
- What's Hot, What's Not?
As our kids have grown older, their interests have extended beyond baby dolls and toy trains to activities that take them further from home, such as soccer, school clubs, art, and music. We believe that having downtime is important for kids, so we try not to over-book their schedules. We stick to a "1 + 1" routine -- one sport or activity and one music lesson at a time for each child.
Even with these guidelines in place, sometimes we find the family calendar gets to be more jam-packed than we'd like. This past spring, we had a few particularly intense weeks when soccer season, jazz band competitions, and law school finals created a Bermuda Triangle into which all of our family time seemed to disappear.
One Sunday morning on the way to church, I overheard the kids talking about a game they called "What's Hot and What's Not." They explained that it was something their youth leader had them do as a way of checking in with the Sunday school class. The game was simple: each child told the group one good thing and one not-so-good thing from his or her week.
As Sabrina and Jake negotiated which of them would claim our baby cousin Amber's successful checkup after her double lung transplant as their "What's Hot" item for the week, I realized how seriously they took this conversation game. So, one Friday night after a particularly busy week, we went out for Mexican food, and I borrowed the youth leader's idea.
Instead of just munching on chips while we waited for dinner to arrive, I asked everyone in the family to play a round of "What's Hot and What's Not."
We went around the table and shared the highlights and low points from our weeks.
As we each took a turn, I noticed how much thought each family member put into the responses and how much more detailed our conversation was than it would have been had I simply asked "How was school today?" Instead of answers like "Fine," we got to hear about an argument two of Jake's friends had and how he felt like he was in the middle. Sabrina told us about how nervous she was about having to memorize and recite a 150-line poem.
Each time we've returned to this game, we've enjoyed the same good results. "What's Hot and What's Not" is a communication game that's easy to find time for in the family schedule, too. We've played it in restaurants, in the car, and just sitting around at home. And, when our schedules rev up into high gear, we find that it's a great way for our family to reconnect.
- Kaleem Aziz.
