Our Family's Game Bag
Parenting is not always easy.
When we're home, we certainly have given in to the "tv babysitter," but when we go out to eat as a family, my wife and I have stayed pretty firm on one rule...
No screens.
When we go out together, we want to be together. It's so rare to have an opportunity when you're just facing each other with a little bit of down time to connect. But just because we're waiting for our food, does not magically make our kids more patient.
So, we created our Game Bag.
The idea was very simple: fill a small backpack with games that were portable enough to bring to restaurants, appointments, or anywhere else that we may have some downtime.
Then we made our first mistake. We picked the games.
We filled the bag with things we thought the kids would enjoy. And sometimes they did, but other times convincing them to play a game from the bag became it's own activity.
My sister, who is a teacher, helped us realize that we were approaching it all wrong. So, we emptied the game bag. Then, we handed it to the kids and said, "you fill it."
We let them choose the small games that they wanted to bring along. If it could fit in the bag, it could come along. Now it meant that the bag wasn't Mom and Dad's, but it was their game bag, too.
WE WANT TO KNOW! WHAT'S IN THE BAG?
The games regularly change. That's the whole point. Games come out and new ones go in.
Some of these may not be on a list of "The Best Restaurant Games for Kids." They're simply the games that our 8-year-old and almost 6-year-old chose.
SKULL - A quick bluffing game where the players pieces are drink coasters! Perfect for restaurants! (As long as the server doesn't try to place your water on it.)
FLIP 7 - A push your luck game where you're trying to get 7 cards of different values. Get to of the same, and you bust!
MANTIS - A colorful and quick game of simple chance. Collect your points before your opponent can steal them away!
SEASIDE - Pull wooden tokens from a bag with a cute beach theme. This game can literally be played anywhere. (Even the beach!)
SPOT IT! - Classic modern game for families where you're trying to find pairs of images. Oh, it sounds easy, does it? Good luck beating your 6-year-old at this game.
BLINK - A quick game a matching colors, shapes, and quantities. Really great for any age!
GENTLE RAIN - Okay, this is technically a solo game, but that hasn't stopped us. We take turns placing tiles to work together to grow all 8 flowers before the stack runs out.
Right now, here is everything currently in our Game Bag: Skull, Flip 7, Mantis, Sly, Seaside, In Vino Morte, Spot It!, TKO, HUE, Chicken!, Blink, and Gentle Rain.
The bag isn't really about keeping them busy, though.
If our goal was to occupy the kids until their chocolate chip pancakes arrived, we could have given them screens. Instead, someone reaches into the game bag and we play a few short rounds of a simple game. Sometimes we finish a game and sometimes the food arrives way faster than expected and we pack it up quickly and throw it back in the bag.
But for those ten or fifteen minutes, it is pure family time.
We're talking. We're laughing. We're connecting. And that is exactly what we actually wanted the game bag to accomplish.
It's also a lesson I'm taking with me as I build The Treasured Realm. The game bag only worked when we stopped telling them what we thought they would enjoy, and instead let them show us.
I'm not interested in telling people who stop in what they're supposed to like. I want to help them find their game. Do they want to laugh? Compete? Cooperate? Bluff? Tell crazy stories? I want to find you your game.
Our game bag has changed a lot over these few years. I'm sure it'll keep changing just as our kids do. But when we want to have some quality family time, our game bag will be there.
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