Parents, Get Creative With Kids' Games

As appeared in the Albuquerque Journal Rio Rancho section, Saturday, October 16, 2010

This tradition started a long time ago, when my brother and sister and I were out for dinner with our relatives in Florida on Easter vacation. How do you pass the time with children when you are waiting for the food to arrive and kids can't think of anything but the French fries they just ordered? As loving parents, we play games to get their minds off of their grumbling stomachs.

Parents get creative when it comes to entertaining their kids, hoping to ward off their hunger and those pesky ants in the pants they seem to suffer from before a restaurant meal is put in front of them. Some parents build forts with the sugar packets on the table. Some restaurants have the children's menus printed on coloring pages and hand out packs of crayons. I Spy is always a favorite for the very young.

My daughters and I went to Dion's the other night and while waiting for our food, my youngest suggested we play Geography, our traditional game to pass the time. This was met with groans and was quickly dismissed to talk about more current topics, such as bone fractures and treatments that my eldest is learning in her sports medicine class. Whatever works is fine by me. Geography has been a table tradition in my family since my days in Florida, and one I fear we may be outgrowing.

To play Geography, the first person names a city, state, country or continent. The next person has to name a city state, country or continent beginning with the letter that the previous word ended in. For example, the first person says New Mexico. An "o" to the next person, who could say Oklahoma. An "a" to the next person, who could say Anchorage. An "e" to the next person, who could say Egypt. And so on.

Car trips call for different games for some reason, like the license plate game. Try to spot an out of state license plate; the one who spots one furthest from home wins. Hawaii plates are triple score.

Then there is the challenging game called Just Questions. You haven't heard of that one? Would you like to know how to play? Are you a witty person? Can you keep a conversation going by only asking questions of the other person? How long do you think you could go without drawing a blank? Who would think a game like this would be so fun?

We have a game going on in our home right now. Somehow the three gnomes from the backyard got inside and are turning up in the most unexpected places. No one is claiming to move them; therefore the 12-inch inanimate objects must be moving around the house themselves. Gnomes do have that sneaky reputation, but I got the last laugh when two of the gnomes went to school in the backpacks the other day and weren't discovered until first period, at least. Nothing says I love you like a three-pound garden gnome stuffed inside your already heavy backpack.

Quote of the Week: "In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play." — Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher.