Board Games...and Confessions

Friday night the three older kids went to blows over a pair of ear phones.Three sets of ears plus one set of phones equals ringside seats to the biggest fight in town. After Wayne and I broke it up, we banished the hoodlums to their rooms and promptly "unplugged" them! No Ipods, no TV, no Wii, no computer, no friends....until, maybe forever!

It was as if we had sentenced them to face the firing squad. "Play outdoors....with my brother?" "Read a book in the su--mm-er?!" (Insert whine here.) It got so bad that I was planning my own escape. Stealing away to the theater to watch a movie sans kids and the husband sounded delightful! Ah, but dad had other plans. "Family Game Night, guys!"

And what was the game of choice? None other than the Memory Game!! It might have been Round 27 before I was ready to stab myself in the eye. Ethan put it best when he declared, "This game kinda sucks." Not that "we" allow the use of such a word, but that was putting it mildly! Every fiber in my body wanted to bail...but for a certain little two year old who waited ever so patiently for her turn. She loved it...all was right in her world. Her daddy, her mommy, her bubbas and her sisters all sitting in a circle cheering for her on every seventh turn.

The truth is, we need Family Game Night.

 My confession is, I hate Family Game Night!! It's the waiting, oh the waiting for each indecisive child to take his/her turn, the whining, the pouting, the gloating...You get it, right? Am I so criminal to prefer Movie Night instead? Pop some popcorn, pour some soda, rent a movie....and I get five semi-quiet coach potatoes and one snoring husband. *Bonus* While they watch, I get to read a book!

Reality: It's easier to maintain five children then to teach/train five children. I can feed, wash, dress and transport them and never even know them....It's really quite easy to do. But there's not much satisfaction in that kind of parenting. I want more.