I`m sharing a game idea to prepare for Thanksgiving (or any other holiday).
A game you can play with children of any age to build relationships.
Get kids/teens to write up questions for each family member to answer onto pieces of paper and place into a jar up until Thanksgiving week. They can write as many questions as they like throughout this week. OR you can just write up all the questions yourself.
Then, during the week of Thanksgiving, set aside family time to do this every day. Each member has a turn to take a piece of paper out of the jar and everyone has to answer the question.
Questions can have two categories: General and more serious.
Choose two different colors of paper: one for the general questions and one for the more serious questions; that way members know what questions they want to choose and what kinds of questions they want to write.
For younger children, let them just write random questions without worrying about different categories or colored papers as this may confuse them (unless the parent writes up all the questions).
This game may help to break down barriers and build bridges for better relationships as children and teenagers share their thoughts and hearts.
Examples of general questions:
If you were an animal, what animal would you be and why?
What`s your favorite sound?
What do you love about each family member?
If you had one day to spend with a parent, what would you choose to do?
What is one question you want to ask the person who took the paper out of the jar?
What is not cool?
What moves too fast?
What makes you laugh?
What would be the ride of your life?
What`s your wildest idea?
What animal matches your energy/personality and why?
Examples of more serious questions:
What`s your learning from your greatest failure?
What steals your joy?
What brings you joy?
What`s your greatest gift?
How do you see God and who is He to you?
What do you look forward to?
What do you wish you had more of/less of?
What are you truly grateful for?
How do you define success?
What is freedom?
What is life missing?
What`s most important to you?
How do you choose wise friends?
What does wisdom mean to you and how do you get it?
What are the clouds in your life?
What purpose is worth it?
What is Truth?
The nice part about this game is the simplicity!
All you need is a jar, colored paper and creative minds. And YOU don`t have to think up the questions as they are all here.
What could go wrong?
OK, so let`s face it, conflict happens so we need to set some ground rules:
Rules:
All questions are valid and worth answering.
There are no wrong answers.
Be kind and curious.
Think about your family dynamics and any potential reasons for conflict and set the ground rules.
Variations to the game:
Guess who wrote the question and get a reward for getting it right.
Prepare to have fun this Thanksgiving and Blessings to your families!
I would LOVE to know how your kids respond to this idea and how this game worked out for you.
"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
1 Thess 5:18
Resources to support parents with coaching tools and strategies in preparing adolescents for life and career success.
If you interested in learning more about how to be a parent coach, and experience transformation in yourself, and your relationships with your teenagers, join a supportive group coaching community. How would it feel if you could take a break from being supermom to the rescue and your teenagers could advocate for themselves?
Comments