“All my pajama stories involve our cousins and the silly things we did,” reported Anna when I asked her to talk about how bedtime stories and pajama parties help kids read. “It’s less about reading and more about silly adventures. Do you remember the time we put rollers in all their hair and took them to Starbuck’s?”
I totally forgot. But there IS something about wearing pajamas and going somewhere after dark. Pajamas in public brings out the silly in kids. And aunts.
“We just thought they needed a silly memory as they were pre-teens.”
Anna claims we were trying to make their mom seem like the normal sister. Sounds like an excuse for fun, if you ask me.
The sure way to make all moms seem cool: Send the kids to their nutty aunt’s house for a few days of hilarity.
Bedtime Stories, Fun, and Family Values
“The giggles happen more naturally late at night,” says Anna.
When they were little, I filled their heads with stories to spark courage and confidence in my children’s hearts, as they drifted off to sleep.
“I think you guys did a marvelous job of telling us stories that lead to reading,” says Anna. “But there was one (story) that I still remember vividly about bears and probably princesses. These bears and these little girls had all sorts of adventures.”
Intentionally, I made up stories to reenforce our family values. We recorded the tales on cassette players for repeated entertainment on road trips.
“A lot of them had morals. Looking back I realize you were doing lots of things with our stories,” Anna reports. “But we used to beg you. They were almost like episodes. I’m sure you laid there as you tried to tell them to us and thought, ‘What is this character gonna do next. I have no idea.’”
So true! I figured out early in my parenting that if I wanted to be like Jesus, I had to lecture and scold a lot less.
Robot Recorders and Being a True Conservative
Remember the colorful mics attached by coiled wire to cassette recorders that looked like a toy robot? They were indestructible. We carried them everywhere. Recorder Robots were my secret weapon to entertain and teach my kiddos in the car long before technology delivered screens built into SUVs.
“Those stories you told were really about using our resources well,” Anna says. By resources, she clarifies exactly what she views as the most important resource. “Our own character.”
“You take good care of your resources. Your character qualities qualify. Your education, many things become resources when you think of them in a broader sense,” says Anna, explaining how true conservatives think.
Anna and I are both word nerds. We collect words like some people collect Hummel figures.
I’m on a minor mission to reclaim the traditional meaning of excellent words messed up by modern pundits and politicos. Yep, there’s a little Don Quixote in me, I’ll admit. Last week, we reclaimed liberal; this week conservative.
Our Camp Krafve Definition of Conservative—stewarding resources wisely to have something wonderful to share.
Conserving the Wrong Things
Speaking of conserving things we value, here’s a quote I really liked.
“Conservatism is too often the conservation of the wrong things. Liberalism a relaxation of discipline. Revolution a denial of the permanent things.” ~T.S. Elliott, Christianity and Culture. 1948 Nobel Prize Winner.
Did you know T.S. Elliott won a Nobel Peace Prize? Ironic, given the modern politicization of the Nobel Prize. Could a professing Christian even win one any more? Good question. See what you think here.
Favorite Family Games and Kids’ Rules
While we’re talking about things we want to steward well, our family really loves family time and FUN!
Of course, Anna and I drifted over to game playing when we think of pajama parties and bedtime stories. Naturally, we both agree it’s important to claim family favorite games.
For kids who struggle to read, games can be a godsend. Why? Because kids with learning differences often excel at games that require creative thinking or analysis.
As a “game conservative,” I think it’s important to know the rules of games. However, some of my family members are more, ahem, flexible.
David’s mom, a truly outstanding grandmother, loved to have fun with our children. Since she didn’t want games to be burdensome for her small grandchildren, they made up Kids’ Rules.
“All of us get beat down by kids’ games. Any grown up who has played more than one round of Candy Land understands that game needs improvement,” laughs Anna, expounding on why faster is better. “Children love it. So, you’re going to play it a million times, so it ought to be improved.” Listen to today’s podcast for more on how we play Kids’ Rules.
My kids always came home from Gramma’s with all kinds of new rules.
“There were benefits for grownups, too,” laughs Anna. “With Gramma, the way she played it, not only did we win, but we won fast. So she could play five rounds with us, but they were quick rounds.”
Our Favorite Family Games
Since our goal is fun and reading, don’t forget to look for games that help young kids’ learn to sequence. Here are our favorites:
- Connect Four
- Rummikube
- Candy Land (Add extra Happy Face stickers so you win lots of skittles.)
- And, of course, Sequence.
X-Spoons
The X in X-Spoons stands for extreme. We have our own extreme way of playing most games, a gift of our Pierce son-in-law. Full Body Spoons means we have to play outside in the grass so people can get tackled.
Long before we had X-Spoons or X-Croquet, we had Kid’s Rules for Spoons.
Adults would pass four of a kind to the smallest child in the circle. When my kids got older they figured out what we were doing. Soon they started setting the little ones up to win, too.
“Mom, do you realize we have a term for that? We call it Reverse Cheating,” says Anna. “Because you’re cheating for someone else’s benefit, generally the youngest player.”
In Spoons, like Musical Chairs, you put out one less spoon than players. The last one to realize when a player has four cards, misses his chance to grab a spoon.
As teenagers, my kids loved Spoons even more because they were secretly slipping the winning hand to children too small to figure out what was happening. It’s such fun to see a small child realize they have four matching cards, then grab a spoon with glee.
We LOVE to hear from YOU!
Which childhood games still put a smile on your face? How could you begin to tell stories next time your family gets a quiet moment together? Which family values would you like to reinforce with some great stories?
May we pray together?
Dear Father in heaven, You model satisfaction for us. We know you were pleased with Your creation because You said, “It is good.” In fact, You also said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” We want to have fun in our families and feel the same kind of satisfaction about being together. Teach us how to relax. Help us enjoy family stories and playing games together. We live in a busy world and we need to block out distractions. Give us creativity and inspiration as we focus on the values that will best serve the next generation. Give us peace as we prepare them for the days ahead. Bless us now because that is Your heart’s desire. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
Thank YOU!
I am grateful for YOU! Thank you for reading today’s blog and listening to our podcast. I’m thanking God today for the people who taught you and me to read!
🙂
Cathy
More Favorite Quotes
“Any kid will run any errand for you, if you ask at bedtime.” ~Red Skelton, comedic actor
“To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them.” ~Teddy Rosevelt, 26th President, Republican, Seventh message to Congress, December 3, 1907
“My family fled Iran in October 1978 as a result of the coming revolution when I was two years old. In the early days, my entire family lived together in a very crowded house, where I shared a room with my sister, cousin, and grandmother, and we would all listen to my grandmother tell stories before bedtime.” ~Pardis Sabeti, the Rollerblading Rock Star Scientist of Harvard, genetics and evolutionary biology
Your Own Upcoming Conversational Adventures
Are you dreaming of your own conversational adventures? Could the right conversation change everything in your life? How can we take a deep breath and step into our fear of rejection?
At Camp Krafve, we’re creating tools to help you pass along bold, noble ideas.
Share a Book, Write a Review
People are telling us they love our books. We’re so happy they are helping. Please consider buying two. One to bless yourself and one to bless someone else!
Then, help us by writing a review. And THANK YOU!!!!
For Marriage Conversations: https://Amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=1936501562
For The Well: https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B08M4G1Q6Z
Speaking of Great Conversations–
Check out this amazing conversation between two great musicians, Miles Pike and Michael Card. You’ll love what these two godly men say about family, faith, and creativity. (Michael mentions By/For.org, a website created to GIVE away lots of creations, art, music, etc.)
Cathy Krafve, speaker, host of Fireside Talk Radio, and author of The Well: The Art of Drawing Out Authentic Conversations and Marriage Conversation: From Coexisting to Cherished. We invite you to join the Fireside Tribe. Truth with a Texas Twang
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