Parenting Tip: A Game to Raise the Awareness Level

This tip comes from the book Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes in You and Your Kids,   

by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, RN, BSN. 
March 28, 2011 

Here’s an interesting and enjoyable game that can be played over several hours or a few days. You may choose to play this game on a car trip or when hanging out at home together on a Saturday afternoon. The game is the "Whoops" and "Ahhh" Game. Playing it can be a lot of fun and it helps you recognize common forms of speech that aren’t very honoring. Choose a few hours when you'll all be together interacting.

Announce the beginning of the game and explain how it's played. "We will look for five types of dishonoring speech: arguing, boasting, whining/complaining, talking too much, and being bossy. Anyone who hears dishonoring speech from children or adults says "Whoops!" Everyone then tries to guess which type of dishonoring speech they heard. The family then works together to offer honoring suggestions.

When Bill says, "Aren't we there yet," in that whiny voice, his sister, Karen might say "Whoops!" You can identify that as whining and suggest that Bill ask his question in a more honoring way.

At the same time everyone is on the lookout for honoring speech that includes praise, gratefulness, compliments, and affirmation. If Karen says, "Thanks Dad, for taking us on this trip." Dad can say, "Ahhh."

To keep it fun, you might occasionally say something dishonoring on purpose to earn a "Whoops!" You might say, "I sure am a good driver." This will earn you a "Whoops!" for boasting followed by an interesting discussion of your alternatives.

Be sure to set an end time to the game. Although the evaluation can be helpful for a time, too much analysis can get irritating and loses its fun.

By the way, if you try this game, let us know how it went. We enjoy the responses from these tips and like to hear what things work best.

What are some ways you've been able to teach honoring speech in your family? Click here to tell us about it. 
 
This tip comes from the book Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes in You and Your Kids,   
by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, RN, BSN.  

If this tip was sent to you by a friend and you'd like to continue to receive tips yourself, you can sign up at www.biblicalparenting.org.  Used by permission

Game: Name Their Wives

Author of original is unknown.
This has been slightly altered.
This would be a great game for a bridal shower, Valentine's party, an anniversary celebration, or just for fun for your family and friends!  Try it before looking at the answers at the very end.

1.  ___ Oysterman's wife?                        a.  Grace
2.  ___ Lawyer's wife?                               b. Amy
3.  ___ Bookkeeper's wife?                       c. Jinnie
4.  ___ Dentist's wife?                               d. Betty
5.  ___ Capitalist's wife?                           e. Sophia
6.  ___ Gambler's wife?                             f. Flora
7.  ___ Shoemaker's wife?                         g. Belle
8.  ___ Doctor's wife?                                 h. Carrie
9.  ___ Fisherman's wife?                          i. Octavia
10. ___ Miner's wife?                                  j. Nettie
11. ___ Marksman's wife?                          k. Pearl
12. ___ Cotton Farmer's wife?                   l. Sue
13. ___ Civil Engineer's wife?                    m. Jewell
14. ___ Gardner's wife?                              n. Bridget
15. ___ Meteorologist's wife?                    o. Hattie
16. ___ Sexton's wife?                                 p. Flossie
17. ___ Porter's wife?                                  q. Iris

18. ___ Dancing Master's wife?                 r. Ione
19. ___ Pianist's wife?                                  s. Sandy
20. ___ Milliner's wife?                               t. Adaline     

21. ___ Ophthalmologist wife                    u. Patience
22. ___ Upholsterer's wife?                        v. Gail
23. ___ Oceanographer's wife?                  w. Peggy

Answers to Game: Name Their Wives

1-k; 2-l; 3-t; 4-p; 5-r; 6-d; 7-w; 8-u; 9-j; 10-m; 11-b; 12-c;
13-n; 14-f; 15-v; 16-g; 17-h; 18-a; 19-i; 20-o; 21-q; 22-e; 23-s

Fun and Frugal Scavenger Hunts

www.stretcher.com - Used by permission from the Editor, Gary Foreman

Great ideas for youth groups, adult Sunday school classes, friends, and families.

Updated Scavenger Hunt Ideas
We did this as kids in the neighborhood too, asking for old calendars of a certain year, or a penny of a certain date. We all had the same list to work from.

But now the teens are using technology. They get a camcorder for each group and have a list of things to do at various locations. They put the list of each group in a different order so the groups don't all go to the same place at once. Then they film it for proof.

Like go to a certain gas station and help someone get gas and wash his or her windows. Go to another business and sing a song, etc. Not only is it different by going to all these various locations, but then they each watch the other's film to verify what was done and have some refreshments and laughs. You can change this any way you like to fit your group and/or location. ~ Thomas

A Hunt for Information
A couple of years ago, I organized a fun car rally/scavenger hunt for the staff at work. I concentrated on the hunters gathering information rather than things, so as not to disrupt the activities in stores and other businesses. Scavengers were asked to get dates from a building cornerstone and a gravestone, an inscription from a building lintel and a gravestone, to count the number of seats in a restaurant and the number of overhead light standards on a bridge, to identify historic community landmarks, etc.

The route was carefully mapped out to take participants around the community, with rather cryptic directions such as "turn right where Eveline meets royalty" ("royalty" was Queen Street). Setting up such an event can be just as much fun as participating in it! ~ Barbara

Bringing Back the Proof
Our church youth group did a photo scavenger hunt once. You make a list of different settings - for example, get a photo of your group doing a human pyramid, a photo of your group in front of a house with the numbers 123, a picture of a member of your group getting frisked by a police officer, etc. You set a time limit - say 2 hours - and each group get in a car and takes off. Some pictures are worth more points than others, depending on difficulty of acquiring the picture. After the time is up, you add up the points. The activity is great fun and the photos afterwards are great souvenirs. ~ Tasha

Community Service Scavenger Hunt
Here's a twist on the old scavenger hunt. For a neighborhood block party we had a Service Scavenger Hunt. We gave groups of people a list of nice things to do for someone: sweep a kitchen floor, read a story to a child, unload a dishwasher, sweep a front sidewalk, take out the garbage, etc.

The first group to meet back at Base with all the items done got a prize. We had a ball, and it was a good way to meet some of the shyer ones who weren't planning to come to the party at all. ~ Joey

Fun with Words

Start with a four letter word, such as "lamp."  Change just one letter in the same order, and see how far you can go!  You cannot add letters or use foreign languages.  This is fun to do alone or with one or more people.  Try it as a family.  Fun!  As you can see, it's hard to stop! 

Example:

lamp, damp, camp, came, case, cast, last, fast, fest, west, nest, best, bust, dust, must, mast, mass, mess, mews, news, sews, sets, bets, lets, pets, vets, wets, wits, with, wish, fish, dish ... 

This would be a great game for road trips.  It can be played alone as well.  If you have to wait at the doctor's office or in the carpool line, you could write out your own list.

Fun Games for Valentine's Day Parties or Other Occasions

by Lois Breneman, © 2008, Heart to Heart Newsletter

These games are suitable for Valentine's Day parties.  The King of Siam and the Airplane Ride are also great games for birthday parties for teens or adults.  They are all lots of fun!

Nobody Knows Noses Like I Do
(Suggested for Married Couples)

Choose about 5-6 couples for this game.  Husbands sit behind a very large piece of cardboard (or several taped together) with numbered holes for only their noses to fit through.  Their blindfolded wives come in the room, one at a time, and must feel the noses to determine which one is her husband's nose.  The husbands must keep very quiet!  The winners are the wives who chose their husband's nose!  There may be more than one winner.

Patches
(Suggested for Engaged or Married Couples)

Have fabric patches about 4-5 inches square, all the same size, as well as needles and spools of thread -- one set per couple.  The husbands should bend over a table (a ping pong table works great), while the wives sew the patch on the backside of her husband's pants.  Whoever finishes first is the winner.  Caution: You may hear a few ouches!

Airplane Ride
(Suggested for almost all ages - except the elderly)

For Valentine's Day, call this "Flying to See My Sweetie!"  It's best to do this in a carpeted room or outside in the grass -- for a softer landing.  For this makeshift airplane you need a strong board about 4-5 feet long and about a foot wide, with two strong men on each end to lift the board with a person standing on it.  A board for used for stair casing is strong enough for adults.  Another strong person is needed as an assistant to help the passenger board the plane and endure the flight!  The passenger comes into the room blindfolded.  He/she is told to step up onto the airplane, which is close to the floor, held up by a brick or some books on each end.  The assistant tells the passenger to prepare for take off!  The two men at the ends of the board lift the board only an inch or two upward as they shake it back and forth (not too much).  The assistant tells the passenger there is turbulence and to hang on.  After 30-60 seconds, someone in the room makes a booming noise and the assistant tells the passenger that the turbulence is getting much worse because of an explosion on board (two men on ends of board shake it a little more).  Tell her she must jump - now!  She will probably feel like she's way up in the air and will be afraid to jump, but tell her she must - now!  When she takes off her blindfold, she will be amazed that she was only a few inches off the ground!  No prizes - just lots of fun for everyone!

Wink'em 
(Suggested for Youth or Singles)

The gals sit on chairs in a circle, with a young man behind each one, except the guy starting the game has no girl sitting in his chair.  All eyes of the girls need to be on that young man without a girl.  He is to wink at any girl in the circle, and she is to quickly escape and run to his chair, but if the guy behind her put his hands on her shoulders before she starts to get up, she had to stay.  The young man continues to get a girl to his chair.  If the girl does escape, that chair is removed from the circle and the guy goes too.  The winners are the one guy and gal left, thought that last one can be a hard one.  It the winking guy is unable to get the last girl over to his seat, the guy keeping the girl from leaving and that girl are the winners.

The King of Siam 
(for all ages)

A young man sits on a chair, posing as the king of Siam, with a big ring on his finger.  A blindfolded person enters the room and is told to bow down to the King of Siam and kiss his ring, saying this quote (in his own language) very distinctly, emphasizing the underlined parts -- "O Wa Ta Goo Siam!"  Let the blindfolded person know the quote must be said just right!  The point of the game is to have that person keep saying it over and over - until he or she realizes just what they have been saying -- "Oh, what a goose I am!"  When that person is able to remove the blindfold, the one posing as the king should have his shoes and socks off and a ring on one of his toes, making that person think she kissed his toe, when in reality she kissed a ring on his finger. (It would be best to have two large rings).  There is no winner, just lots of laughs!