"Family night"

Family night,
What do you all do when you make the children eat at home and spend time with their relatives (including parents)? I generally prepare a dinner meal 6 days a week. Thursday through Tuesday as Wednesday is my go and waste time at the office day.

Normally, after dinner we sit and play games... but these are getting repetitive. The children are 14 and 10 but normally, one or more of my sisters kids are over (ages 21, 18 and 11) and often various friends. So the games have to be "expandable" and easy enough for the younger kids, without being to silly for the older ones.

what is a available:
Board games: monopoly, life, trivial pursuit (jr, yuppie and normal versions), risk and parcheesi as well as chess and checkers.

Card games: uno, blink, mille bournes, apples to apples

Naturally, we have lots of regular playing cards and play the following games: Rummy, Gin, Canasta, poker (mainly with the older ones), cribbage (we will play tournaments depending on the number of people available)

All these games allow for a fair amount of socialization while playing which is my point. I am an evil parent and only allow 2 tv sets in the house, one is for watching tv and the other is for playing games (usually) they are in the same room, as is a billiards table (10x5) and a few card tables and four computers (I'm the only one who gets to use a computer in a private setting (my office) helps to keep people honest. seems like a lot in one room but 20 years ago the house was used as a bed and breakfast and my family room is the old dining room that they added on... 50'x40', it still seems kind of empty.

So with winter fast approaching... what do other folks do to amuse the children when the weather is not fit outside? or do you simply let them hide in their rooms and not socialize?

They are not always at home but i like the interaction with them and the various people who eat at my table.

I often will set a table and clean and hone razor when everyone just wants to watch tv. if i could just get everyone interested in polishing and honing my life would be easier.:D

Any comments? this topic is should be more polite than the religion and politics ones, i hope.:shrug:

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Originally Posted by syslight

Any comments? this topic is should be more polite than the religion and politics ones, i hope.:shrug:

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I chose early on not to have any so as to not have to worry about entertaining them.

That and that pesky "Mother's Curse" thing...

There were 4 of us at home when I was a kid.
We always ate diner together (which is the norm here) and then made our homework and did some chores.

As a rule we had to stay in the house during the evenings unless it was for sports activities and such. When we got to 17 or so this rule relaxed somewhat.

Anywho, our living room was farily large for Belgian standards, and there were a couple of desks near the sitting area. We didn't play family games or such very often, but usually we were in the same room, doing different things but still talking to each other and just enjoying being together.
My mother is the reason that this worked because she never complained or made a fuss when we occupied the kitchen table and surrounding area to build a water propelled rocket or things like that.

I liked it very much and I want to do something similar when my kids get older.
I will have 2 desks in the corner of the living room where my kids can use a computer or do other stuff. No tv in their room, ever, and no computers until I they are > 16.

I don't think that we all have to do the same things at the same time, but spending time together in the same room is very nice and keeps the family together.
Another thing I want to enourage is doing chores together. Painting the windows, working in the garden, laying floor tiles in the basement... these are all things where I can my kids how to do them, while at the same time spending time and talking with them.

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Originally Posted by Jonedangerousli

That and that pesky "Mother's Curse" thing...

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Mothers curse is alive and well...

Here is proof that my daughter is just like me :D In another way, I stole all my moms surplus army stuff (long before I had to much of it issued to me :p ) and now my daughter is stealing my Contender frame... go figure...

I know where my moms grey hair started... my daughter is testing that on me now...

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Originally Posted by DwarvenChef

Mothers curse is alive and well...

Here is proof that my daughter is just like me :D In another way, I stole all my moms surplus army stuff (long before I had to much of it issued to me :p ) and now my daughter is stealing my Contender frame... go figure...

I know where my moms grey hair started... my daughter is testing that on me now...

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Someone is very proud of his daughter!!

I grew up in a disjointed family... single parent working 2 jobs to suport us. So my sister and I grew up our own ways and way to early. My wife was from a bad home life and didn't get along with her mother... So we have huge issues trying to get a good "Family time" thing going. Add to the problem that I'm a cook and my wife is a massage therapest. Key times off for everyone (daughter included) are my wife and I's most busy times, so again family time gets fragged.

Every chance I get with my daughter I try to do SOMETHING with her, and if my wife is also available we all get out to do (again) SOMETHING!!! Lately we have gone on bike rides just to get out of the house, no destination just go in "That direction" and see what we see. Anyone can stop and do what ever and we all stop to enjoy the time of it.

So our family time tends to be out of the house.

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Originally Posted by Bruno

no computers until I they are > 16.

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Belgium must really be a lot different, either that or I missed something. Why would you handicap your children like that?

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Originally Posted by Jonedangerousli

I chose early on not to have any so as to not have to worry about entertaining them.

That and that pesky "Mother's Curse" thing...

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Your loss ... your gain.

My mother's revenge is thati have 2 daughters... i might let them speak directly to a boy/ man 3 months after the wedding day. by the second anniversary, i might let them hold hands. five years into their marriage my daughters will be allowed to live with their husbands, if i have not arragned the divorce by that time.:D

I'm not saying i'm overprotective or anything:w i just remember what i was like when i was young.

In nice weather we do things out of doors. but at night and though the winter months there really is not a lot to do around here. I should mention that i live about 15 miles from the nearst "convenience" store, 20 to a regular supermarket.

Things like that tend to foster good neighbor and family skills.

this fall i'm taking Kathleen (the older one) deer hunting. when she took the hunter's safety course she put 4 in the x one in the 9 with a winchester 700 at 100 yards ... which slightly more than qualified her. She understands that one cleans dresses as well as eats game you kill.

one other thing we do get range time together and they have been progressing in their skills with cleaning and oiling firearms.

My kids are grown, but some suggestions...

There's still lots of outdoor things you can do in winter... skating, building snow forts, sledding, etc... after dinner we often had a blazing fire at a nearby lake and we/the neighbors would go ice skating after dinner til 8:30 or 9pm. If the moon was out real bright, we might even play ice hockey with a tin can painted white for the puck and tree branches for sticks.

When the weather isn't cooperative (ie, no snow/not cold enough/too cold) we often would go on outings to find/mark the "perfect" xmas tree that we would cut weeks later as Xmas approached, or hang suet in the trees somewhere to feed birds, or just walk along a babbling stream and plunk rocks and watch the wildlife.

You don't mention any hobbies... I used to always be building something in my basement workshop and there was always something for the kids to do if they wanted. Likewise, my wife always had something going as well... sewing, baking, etc.

We often set aside time to read... usually after dinner. The kids joined in because they just grew up in that environment... they knew no different. (The important thing was the TV was OFF!) Some of us read the paper, others a book, others magazines... but we read. Sometimes one of us would just look through catalog's and dream of things we could buy (but never did), etc.

My son collected stamps. I had a coin collection. We sometimes would buy a couple model kits and work on them... ships and airplanes mostly.

And jigsaw puzzles were big too... we'd set up a card table and there would be someone at each side of the table working on their side of the puzzle.

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Originally Posted by Jonedangerousli

Belgium must really be a lot different, either that or I missed something. Why would you handicap your children like that?

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Sorry I meant no computer on their private room until they are >16 (or 15, whatever).
Young kids should not be connected to the internet in the knowledge that noone is keeping an eye on them. Plus I want them to spend time in the company of the family. Otherwise they're in their rooms all night.

Of course they will have access to a computer as soon as they need or want to.

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Originally Posted by syslight

I'm not saying i'm overprotective or anything:w i just remember what i was like when i was young.

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I hear you my brother.
I have 2 daughters. I will have a man to horny pig talk with any boyfriend that shows up on my doorstep, and make sure they understand that I have lots of sharp objects lying around the house, and I know how to use them. :D

The idea alone that some horny boy thinks about my daughters in the same way I thought about other girls when I was young (which is of coarse TOTALLY different :w ) ... :rant:

my daughters' (age 2 and 4) favorite game right now, and for the last 2 years, has been "POUNCE ON DAD!!!" (to be said in unison from two screaming little girls).

It typically involves me lying on the floor with my feet propped up on the couch, still in full work cloths because they just can't wait. the girls get a running start and jump on me, or for variety they get on the couch and jump on me. This usually lasts for 30 to 45 minutes, or until my wife says that dinner is ready. I flip them over, tickle them, they tickle me (and they are good at it, or I am just a ticklish wimp), and general mayhem.

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Originally Posted by mhailey

my daughters' (age 2 and 4) favorite game right now, and for the last 2 years, has been "POUNCE ON DAD!!!" (to be said in unison from two screaming little girls).

It typically involves me lying on the floor with my feet propped up on the couch, still in full work cloths because they just can't wait. the girls get a running start and jump on me, or for variety they get on the couch and jump on me. This usually lasts for 30 to 45 minutes, or until my wife says that dinner is ready. I flip them over, tickle them, they tickle me (and they are good at it, or I am just a ticklish wimp), and general mayhem.

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Pounce on Pop.... was a favorite when they were younger... i seems to recall a dr.suess book by that name as well.

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Originally Posted by Bruno

I hear you my brother.
I have 2 daughters. I will have a man to horny pig talk with any boyfriend that shows up on my doorstep, and make sure they understand that I have lots of sharp objects lying around the house, and I know how to use them. :D

The idea alone that some horny boy thinks about my daughters in the same way I thought about other girls when I was young (which is of coarse TOTALLY different :w ) ... :rant:

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For me my plans are to quietly take the horny pig to the basement... open the door to the armory and take them on a little tour, carefully explaining how useful each and every clean and well oiled weapon is... that should give him pause... then i'll show him the razors and give him a shave... while doing his throat--- "So you WILL be returning my child in the same pristine condition she is in now, RIGHT?";)

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Originally Posted by azjoe

My kids are grown, but some suggestions...

There's still lots of outdoor things you can do in winter... skating, building snow forts, sledding, etc... after dinner we often had a blazing fire at a nearby lake and we/the neighbors would go ice skating after dinner til 8:30 or 9pm. If the moon was out real bright, we might even play ice hockey with a tin can painted white for the puck and tree branches for sticks.

When the weather isn't cooperative (ie, no snow/not cold enough/too cold) we often would go on outings to find/mark the "perfect" xmas tree that we would cut weeks later as Xmas approached, or hang suet in the trees somewhere to feed birds, or just walk along a babbling stream and plunk rocks and watch the wildlife.

You don't mention any hobbies
...
We often set aside time to read... usually after dinner. The kids joined in because they just grew up in that environment... they knew no different. (The important thing was the TV was OFF!)
...
And jigsaw puzzles were big too... we'd set up a card table and there would be someone at each side of the table working on their side of the puzzle.

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Oh yes there is plenty to do in the winter... when the ice is thick on the pond or there is snow lots of things....

regularly we walk through the fields and woods, looking for deer trails and good hunting spots, teaching them how to be move quietly.

hobbies for me are firearms and related crafts, razors and photagraghy. I also cook, clean, sew.

I'm a big fan of reading and we often take turns reading aloud, over the summer we read dicken's "oliver twist" reading aloud is slow going but it greatly increases the comprehension (my personal belief) as well as helps with public speaking.

I have not tried a puzzle table but that might be a thing to try. i do remember doing them with my folks and sisters when we were young.