I hope you enjoy these and that it helps to relieve some of your stress and bring a smile to your face!

JACK (age 3) was watching his Mom breast-feeding his new baby sister.
After a while he asked: ‘Mom why have you got two? Is one for hot and
one for cold milk?’

MELANIE (age 5) asked her Granny how old she was. Granny replied she
was so old she didn’t remember any more. Melanie said, ‘If you don’t
remember you must look in the back of your panties. Mine say five to
six.’

BRITTANY (age 4) had an ear ache and wanted a pain killer.. She tried
in vain to take the lid off the bottle. Seeing her frustration, her
Mom explained it was a child-proof cap and she’d have to open it for
her. Eyes wide with wonder, the little girl asked: ‘How does it know
it’s me?’

SUSAN (age 4) was drinking juice when she got the hiccups. ‘Please
don’t give me this juice again,’ she said, ‘It makes my teeth cough.’

DJ (age 4) stepped onto the bathroom scale and asked: ‘How much do I
cost?’

CLINTON (age 5) was in his bedroom looking worried When his Mom asked
what was troubling him, he replied, ‘I don’t know what’ll happen with
this bed when I get married. How will my wife fit in it?’

MARC (age 4) was engrossed in a young couple that were hugging and
kissing in a restaurant. Without taking his eyes off them, he asked
his dad: ‘Why is he whispering in her mouth?’

TAMMY (age 4) was with her mother when they met an elderly, rather
wrinkled woman her Mom knew. Tammy looked at her for a while and then
asked, ‘Why doesn’t your skin fit your face?’

JAMES (age 4) was listening to a Bible story. His dad read: ‘The man
named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city but his
wife looked back and was turned to salt.’ Concerned, James asked:
‘What happened to the flea?’

and my favourite, from our own son:

SMARTY PANTS (age 4) was satisfied with himself after he cleaned up all his toys.  He turned to me and said, ‘I worked really hard, like Santa Claus!”

Have a great day and week, and keep smiling!  Leave a comment if you have a funny one from your own kids!

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So I thought I’d turn the world on its head for a moment here and write about that very topic.

If you’ve been jamming with us here at The Dad Jam lately, you’ll know that we are going diaper free with our daughter, who is now 18 months old.  With her, we never had to ask ourselves if she was ready… we only had to ask ourselves if we were ready.  The same principle can be applied to potty training any toddler, whether you have gone diaper free, used cloth diapers, or used disposable diapers.  An important consideration you have to make is if you are ready or not – because this will, in large part, determine your probability of success.

For example, when potty training, one tip that is often thrown around is to put your child on the potty when she wakes up first thing in the morning.  I have met parents that have said they didn’t want to do this because they still like to lie in bed in the morning and don’t want to make the effort.  If such parents were more ready for potty training, they’d have have better success, and would have their child potty trained sooner.

Even after a child has been potty trained, there are still times when accidents happen, or they are in a public place and their child has to pee and there is no bathroom in sight, or their child wakes up in the middle of the night and needs help going to the bathroom.  If you are not ready for these situations, then you are not ready for potty training.

How do you know if you are ready for potty training?  I hope you are ready, or want to get ready now.  If you don’t feel you are ready yet, here are some things you can do to get ready:

1. Prepare for accidents and possibly some stains.  Get over it, it happens.
2. Prepare to bring an extra set of clothes with you when going out in case of accidents when you are out.  Again, it happens, get over it.  We also found, with a boy, bringing a bottle he can do number 1 in helps if you are stranded somewhere without a toilet and he really needs to go.  With our daughter, we bring a little potty with us.
3. Don’t be grossed out by it.  It’s your child after all, and it’s natural.
4. Don’t stress out your child, have a positive attitude toward the whole experience.
5. Prepare to get up in the morning and put your child on the potty.  Be prepared to interrupt what you are doing to put your child on the potty when you notice signs that she has to go.  This works best if you have motivation.  If your child is wearing a diaper, there is not a lot of motivation… if he is NOT wearing a diaper on the other hand, you’ll be there faster than you can say, “carpet stain.”  In other words, buy some undies, preferably not white ones.
6. Prepare to teach your child and foster your child through this experience.
7. Prepare to be consistent.  If you notice your child has to go, and especially if he tells you he has to go, don’t let him go in the diaper just because it is easier or you don’t want to make the effort to pull out the potty.  Send a consistent message.
8. Prepare to persevere through the difficult times.  Sometimes children go through developmental phases that interfere with the potty training and you may feel like you’re taking two steps forward and one step back.  Prepare for these times and stay positive.  Everybody manages in the end!
9. Be especially vigilant when the kids are playing.  This is a time when they may be so wrapped up in what they are doing and having fun that they either forget that to say they have to go, don’t realize they have to go, or don’t want to say they have to go because they don’t want to break away from the fun they’re having.
10. Keep in mind that if your child is over 18 months old, he is probably already ready.  In the “diaper free” jam that I wrote here, I mentioned that not so long ago, most children were potty trained by the age of 18 months.  Nowadays, children are potty trained much later.  Have the children changed?  No.  What has changed is our lifestyles, what the media tells us about potty training and keeping kids in diapers (so that the diaper companies can sell more diapers), our own attitudes towards “waiting for the child to be ready,” and of course, our own lack of readiness or willingness to take the plunge (and reduced need to take the plunge, thanks to size 5 or 6 diapers, care of Pampers).

So if your child is over 18 months old, don’t worry too much about whether or not she is ready, unless you really think she is not.  There are cases when a child may still not be ready by 18 months, so I don’t want to generalize or give advice about that.  There are plenty of articles out there about child readiness, as I’ve said.

Once you’ve got that all down, most importantly, think about whether or not you are ready, then get ready, and go for it!

Please leave a comment below to let me know what you think, or to share your own experiences.

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Putting on pyjamas – after a long day, I was struggling to get Smarty Pants to put his pyjamas on after his bedtime bath.  He insisted that he wanted to put shorts on.  I had no idea why, but I was flabbergasted.  No matter how much I insisted that he put his pyjamas on, he refused.  He absolutely wanted to wear shorts.  He wouldn’t tell me why.  Then I looked at myself. I was wearing shorts.  He simply wanted to wear shorts like me.  Can’t blame the kid for wanting to be like his father .  So I went and put on some pyjamas.  When I came back to put his pyjamas on, he put them on right away without any fuss or muss.  I said a little Hallelujiah.

Eating certain foods – one fine morning, I asked Smarty Pants what he wanted for breakfast.  “Bagels” he replied.  Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but we were in Vienna at the time, where bagels aren’t as easy to come by.  “We don’t have bagels,”  I responded.  Still, he insisted on having bagels.  The more I told him that we didn’t have bagels, the more he insisted on having one.  After growing a couple of grey hairs with the exchange we were having, I simply took out a banana and started eating it.  “I want a banana too!” he quickly exclaimed.  So I gave him a banana.  Then I made some breakfast for myself and, you guessed it, he wanted to have what I was having.  The bagels were long forgotten.  Why I bothered asking him what he wanted for breakfast in the first place, and didn’t just start making breakfast for myself, is beyond me.  I learned my lesson though.

There are a few other examples I could give you, but I think you get the point.  If your child sees you doing something, they are more likely to do it themselves.  Try to use this little nugget of knowledge to your advantage whenever you can.

If you have an example of your own, please leave a comment and share your story!

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This is an adaptation of an idea I got from reading The Parent’s Problem Solver, by Cathryn Tobin, which, by the way happens to be a great book.  You should read it if you haven’t read it already.  It offers a lot of great ideas to solve everyday problems that parents encounter with, well, parenting.

Before I go on, you need to know that our bedtime routine with our toddler, who I call Smarty Pants, is a multi-phased, well choreographed routine, of which the last two phases are a story (book), followed by a lullaby (song).  How my singing gets him to feel sleepy is beyond me, but that is besides the point.

So, now that you have the background, let me set the scene.

There we were, in his bedroom, him on his bed, telling me how badly he doesn’t want to go to sleep.  I was using the Parent’s Problem Solver approach of being persistent, and not focusing on telling him to go to bed, but to let him come to his own conclusion that it was time to go to bed.

Here’s how it went:

Smarty Pants:  “I don’t want to go to bed!”

Me:  “What book do you want to read?”

Smarty Pants:  “I don’t want to go to bed!”

Me:  “Pick out which book you want to read.”

Smarty Pants:  “No!”

Me:  “Which book do you want to read?”  (starting to sound a bit like my old Thriller album – i.e. a broken record for those of you who are a bit slow, or tired)

Smarty Pants:  “I don’t want to read a book!”

<okay, now pay attention… here is the real turning point in the story.  It is the point of the “pattern interrupt,” and the point where the dark clouds parted to let a small ray of sunshine through…>

Me:  “Okay, so then we’ll just sing a song.”  (matter-of-factly)

Smarty Pants:  (after a bit of a pause)… “No, I want to read a book too.” (caught him of guard there… did you notice?)

Me:  “Okay, which book do you want to read then?”

Smarty Pants:  “This one!”

Me:  “Okay, great, lets read it then!”

And we all lived happily ever after.  I read him his story, sang him his song, tucked him in, left the room, and shortly after, he was in dreamland.

I felt great after this little episode and found it to be a small victory that I had to share with all of you out there.  It was a combination of the persistent focus on reading the book, a great tip from the Parent’s Problem Solver, and a little “pattern-interrupt”  ala Tony Robbins.  It was my own idea to throw this little “pattern interrupt” in there.  I was inspired to do it because I have been listening to Tony Robbins’ “Personal Power II” lately.  It worked marvelously, as you can see!

So there you have it… if your situation is similar to mine, you might be able to give something like this a try.  The trick is, be persistent, ask your child a question that helps her to come to her own conclusion about what needs to happen next, and if you find yourself in a repetitive argument, like the one above, interrupt the pattern.

Hope it works for you too!  And as Tony Robbins says, “Live with Passion!”

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I don’t even remember what it was about or how it started, to be honest.  But like all of our power struggles, it was going nowhere, fast.  We were at the point where he would just say the opposite of, or negate, everything I said.

Here’s an example:

Me:  “Next time are you going to listen to me?”

Him:  “No, I’m not going to listen”

Me:  “Then I’m going to be upset”

Him:  “No, you’re not going to be upset.”

and so on.  Had I the will, we could have continued this way till he reached drinking age and settled it over a beer at the restaurant at the end of the universe.

But since I noticed my hair starting to turn grey and fall from my head right before my very eyes, I decided it was time to put a stop to this dead-end conversation.

Before I continue, there’s one thing that you need to know about me:

I am a big fan of Stephen Covey, and his books, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” and even more so, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families.”

One of my favoritest concepts from these books is the concept of “Emotional Deposits” and “Emotional Withdrawals.”  If you haven’t read these books (which I suggest you do), the theory pretty much goes like this:

We have an emotional bank account with each person we know.  We can do things to make deposits into that account (i.e. doing something nice for the person, giving them a compliment, making their day a bit easier, etc.), and we can do things to make withdrawals from the account (i.e. letting the person down, getting in an argument with them, accidentally stepping on their cat, etc.).

Basically, if you keep making withdrawals on a person without making deposits, you will have an overdrawn account, and your relationship will hit the bricks in no time.  To keep a relationship healthy, you should always make more deposits than withdrawals.

With that in mind, I realized that my power struggle with Smarty Pants was a big withdrawal.  I figured the best way to resolve the situation and get back on track was to make a deposit.

So I let things cool off a bit.  Then I got him ready for bed, and praised the things he did well.  As I was laying him down to sleep, getting ready to say goodnight, I said three magic words:  “I love you.”

I say “I love you” every night to him when I put him to bed, but this time, I put extra emphasis on it and made sure he really heard it.

“Even when you’re upset?”  He asked.  “Yes.” I responded, “I always love you, even when I’m upset.  I love you lots.”

I could see my account balance rising right before my eyes.  It was like winning the lottery.  A look of relief and ease swept across his cute little face.  All he really wanted was to know that I love him.  Cha-ching.

This little episode really got me thinking.  Above and beyond everything else, the one thing our kids need most is to be loved and to feel loved.  When kids act out, or engage in power struggles with us, they are really just crying out for our love and attention.  So sometimes the easiest way to break the negative pattern is to simply, stop, drop, and say “I love you.”

The Beatles had it right all along:  “All you need is love.”  (altogether now…)

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Flickr Photo courtesy of Dunechaser

I dabble in magic even now (and more recently, mentalism – reading minds, predicting things, etc), and try to perform at any chance I get.  Since having kids, I have tried to learn some tricks that are especially good to show to kids (mentalism doesn’t go over well with kids, in case you were wondering).  I also recently started a social network especially for magicians and mentalists).

What I have learned is that kids like tricks that are visual; where it is obvious what is happening, and where there is a bit of humour involved… the kind of humour that they can easily understand.  (Not like the type of humour that you find here – that nobody understands).

I enjoy performing magic tricks for Smarty Pants, because it gives me a good chance to practice for a non-scrutinizing audience (unlike my wife, who will watch my every move with a magnifying glass and ask me 20 questions throughout a single trick).  Smarty Pants gets a real kick out of the tricks, and wants me to show him again and again and again and again.  I love to see his eyes light up and a smile come to his face when I show him something.

One thing that I usually show him, that is easy enough to do, that even a monkey could learn, is making an object disappear and then reappear somewhere, like behind their ears, or out of their tummy.

The easiest way to do this is to take a small object in one hand, and pretend to place it in your other hand (this is called a “false transfer”).   The key is to keep your attention on the hand that you are pretending to put the object in.  Your child’s attention will follow your attention and focus on that hand, thinking that the object is in there.

Now ask your child to blow on the hand where the object is supposed to be (but it is still in the original hand that you had it).  Slowly open the empty hand, and your child will be amazed that the object isn’t there.  Now, move your hand that is holding the object behind your child’s ear, and open your hand as you move it out from behind the ear, showing your child that the object is in that hand.

A variation that I sometimes do is to false transfer the object from my right hand to left hand.  Then, I take my left hand to my mouth and pretend to swallow the object.  The object is still in my right hand of course.  Then I put my right hand to my belly and pretend to pull the object out of my belly.

Some of you may think this variation is gross or will give your child nightmares or false impressions of what happens when you swallow something.  To that I say, hmmm, maybe… it probably depends on your kid.  You can try it, and if your child bolts from the room screaming, you might not want to try it for him/her again.  Just explain that you really didn’t swallow it an pull it out of your tummy, and show him/her how you did it.  When I do it for Smarty Pants, his reaction is laughter and a shout of, “Again, again!”

If you are interested in magic and learning some easy, visual, magic tricks that are great for kids, I suggest learning some sponge ball magic as a good place to start.  The simple tricks that I explained above can easily be done using a sponge ball as the object that you are vanishing or swallowing.  If you are really interested in learning almost everything there is to know about Sponge Ball magic, there is a really good DVD, called “Sponge” by Jay Noblezada, that comes with 4 sponge balls, and really teaches all the types of moves you can do with sponge balls, and a few sponge ball routines (that is not an affiliate link or paid advertising, by the way).

If you would like to join an online magic community, where you can meet and interact with other magicians, feel free to join my new magic social network.  It’s totally free to join.  (That is also not paid advertising – I didn’t pay myself to advertise my own other site here).  Hope you enjoy the magic!

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Photo courtesy of Nathan E. Photography

If you haven’t heard of Sportball, picture a gathering of 3 to 5 year olds let loose in a room with a bunch of balls with an instructor singing and shouting positive chants as they romp around the room.  There is a magic line where the kids gather and shout, “We can do it!” whilst holding their thumbs high in the air.  Ideally the kids all stop when the instructor blows her whistle too.

A Sportball instructor in action is an amazing sight to see.  I cannot fathom how one can stay so consistently positive and patient for an entire hour, whilst getting hit with balls, facing disobedience, and trying to teach young kids something about ball sports, when all they want to do is run around and cause a ruckus.

When I took Smarty Pants to his first Sportball class, I thought I would have it easy.  Just drop him off, give him a kiss goodbye, and come back an hour later to pick him up.  Well, unfortunately, he took a nap that day, and happened to wake up just before his class started.  So I dragged a drowsy, slightly cranky, boy to his first Sportball class.

When we got there, our overly cheery instructor slapped a name tag on his chest, saying, “Hey, welcome to Sportball big guy!!”  To which Smarty Pants promptly responded, “WHAAAHHHHHHH!!!”  We were off to a brilliant start.

I brought Smarty Pants out of the room to calm him down.  He wanted to go home.  “But you were really looking forward to Sportball” I reminded him.  He didn’t care.  He insisted we just go home.  “And you don’t want to come next week either?” I asked.  “No” he said.

I was about to go and ask for a refund right then and there, but something inside me said I should stick around a bit and let it all play out.  I think I was also curious to see how long the instructor could stay so positive and cheery, so thought it worthwhile to stay.

Smarty Pants and I sat there on the sidelines, watching the other kids as they sat on the magic line and learned that “Only the goalie can touch the ball with his hands” and, “When I blow the whistle, you stop.”   We observed, bemused, as the kids picked up the balls with their hands at every opportunity, and continued running around each time the whistle was blown.

This went on for about half an hour.  Every ten minutes I asked Smarty Pants if he wanted to join the rest of the kids.  The answer was always a firm “No.”

Then, suddenly, without any word or warning, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, he just got up, grabbed a ball, and started playing with the others.  It was like a ray of sunshine after a thundery storm.  Night had turned into day, and everything was fine.  This boy, who, just thirty minutes earlier, wanted to go home and never come back, was suddenly having the time of his life.  A week later, he went again and had a great time as well.

It just goes to show you how quickly things can change with kids.  Maybe the instructor’s positivity rubbed off on him, maybe he got over his tiredness and crankiness, maybe he got a leg cramp from sitting down for so long and needed to shake it off.  We’ll never know… but that’s the point.  With kids, you never really know.  All I know is I  learned that you just gotta stick with things sometimes, weather the storm, and head for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  With kids, it is often worth it.  Now everyone put your thumbs way up high and say, “We’re the best!!”

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That’s right, flowers.  How do you explain to a toddler that he is not allowed to pick flowers from a public garden, when he so kindly wants to pick one so that he can give it to you?  It nearly breaks my heart.

I was faced with this dilemma the other day, and called on a tried and true method to get me out of it.  I used the sign.  What sign was that, you ask?  Well, luckily for me, there was a sign posted at the garden that said, “Please keep out of the planted area.”  I swiftly pointed the sign out to Smarty Pants and said, “Look, the sign says we have to keep out of the planted area.  That means we are not allowed to go in there and pick flowers.”

“Why does the sign say to keep out of the planted area?” Smarty Pants inquired.  (He is at the “Why?” phase right now, where he asks “Why?” about, oh, 50 thousand times a day).

“Because, these plants are for everyone to enjoy, not just us.  And the gardeners spent a lot of time planting these flowers, and they don’t want anyone to take them away.”  I replied, making it up as I went along, as usual.

“The sign says keep out,” he repeated to himself, satisfied, and moved on.

I have to say, using signs to get Smarty Pants to listen has never failed for me.  Cialdini was right, social proof and authority are powerful influencers.  (or maybe he just prefers to listen to what signs say vs. what I say).

Here are some examples of other times when the “Sign Says” technique has worked for me:

At a play area where Smarty Pants had to wear socks to play – at first when I told him he had to put on socks, he outright refused. He absolutely did not want to put on socks, no matter how many times I told him that he had to. Desperate, I showed him the sign that said that all children must wear socks to play there, and I told him, “This sign says you have to put on socks to play here.”  Right away, he said, “Sign says ‘Put on socks!’” and proceeded to let me put his socks on him without any fuss or muss at all!  It was like telling him he should eat chocolate ice cream.

When passing a construction site – Smarty Pants wanted to go in, but outside there was a sign that said “Do not Enter.”  Despite all my pleading and begging, he kept itching further and further towards the entrance.  Just as I was about to collapse with exhaustion, I noted to him… “This sign says, ‘Do Not Enter!’”  He immediately backed away from the entrance and repeated “Sign says, “Do Not Enter!’” so many times that I almost wished I hadn’t said it in the first place.  I got almost the same reaction that I get when I tell him we are going to buy an M&M cookie.
So that’s it… one small sentence for a man, one giant leap for a toddler.  Try it out, and if your toddler is anything like mine, it just might work for you too!

What are some tactics you use to get your toddler to listen in sticky situations like these?  Leave a comment and let us know!

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Suddenly, he decides he wants to put his fingers in his mouth.  He usually doesn’t, but given the circumstances, he figures this is the best time to start doing so.

“Don’t put your fingers in your mouth!” I say,  “They’re all dirty.”

Seeing that he has caught my attention and has started an intriguing discussion, as smile comes to his face.  “I want to do that.”

“No, don’t” I try to reason, “they’re dirty, it’s not good.”

I don’t like where this is heading.  He does.  “Yeah, it’s good!“  He exclaims, as he puts his other hand in his mouth.

I’m not really in the mood to argue.  “Okay fine” I say, “Go ahead and do it.  Put your fingers in your mouth all you want.  They are dirty and its not good for you, but if you want to do it, go ahead, have fun.”

He looks at me, confused.  He takes his fingers out of his mouth and thinks about it for a second.  Then decidedly declares, “No, I don’t want to do that.”

He moves on, I smile a victorious smile.  Until I see what he’s gotten his hands into next….

Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever used reverse psychology to get your toddler to follow your instructions?  I don’t use it very often, but after this episode, I’m going to try it more!  If you haven’t tried it, give it a try!

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When we got home, we cracked one of the board games open and started playing it.  Smarty Pants loved it and we had more fun than Paris Hilton at a birthday bash.

All this board game fun got me thinking – whatever happened to family fun playing board games?  Do you ever hear of families having fun together playing board games anymore?  I’m sure there are families out there with older kids that have family board game fun, but do any parents out there with 3 or 4 year olds play board games with them?

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of playing board games with my family and friends.  Whether Scrabble, Monopoly, Sorry, or Checkers, I was on those games like a fat kid on french fries.  I’ve spoken to many parents who share the same sentiments.  Board games are fun, educational, and provide the perfect opportunity to bond with, and teach, your kids.  Most importantly, you can play them with young kids too.

I asked the owner of our local toy store recently why he doesn’t carry any board games for young kids.  His answer:  They don’t sell well.  Why?  Because parents more often buy something that their young kids can play with independently.  Board games are more work and take more time and involvement.

Maybe parents also don’t realise that you can play a board game with a three or four year old, or can’t be bothered to try.

This is a reflection of how changing times affect our family activities and the time we spend bonding with our kids.  In our hectic lives, we would rather hand our kids something that will occupy them than take the time to sit and play a game with them.  It’s a pity, because board games are fun, and are the perfect opportunity to spend time with your kids.  Think back to your own childhood, and I’m sure you can remember having family fun over a beloved board game.

If you have a young child, try playing a simple board game with her.  I guarantee you a fun, bonding, experience.

Here are some great board games that we like, that can be played with children as young as 3 years old:

Enchanted Forest: We bought this game at the swap meet and it looks awesome.  It is a Ravensburger game, so you know you can’t go wrong. The game involves looking for treasures under trees in the forest, and remembering where they are to report them back to the King.  Different variations of the game can be played, depending on the age level.  For younger children, you can play a simple version that just involves collecting the trees as you move along the board.  The more complex version (which is great for when the kids get a bit older) involves memory, strategy, and the use of “magic.”   I’m really looking forward to playing this one!  Smarty Pants already had a great time setting up the little wooden trees on the colourful board, and  laying out the magical cards.

The Squirrel Game: Another one from Ravensburger that we got at the swap meet.  We recently played this together and had a blast.  This game comes with little squirrels carrying wheelbarrows, a bunch of little pine cones, the game board, and special die.  Each player is a squirrel, running around the game board collecting pine cones to bring back home.  You collect the pine cones in your little wheelbarrow.  When you have more than six pine cones in your wheelbarrow, you have to dump them out because it is too heavy for the squirrel to carry.  If you meet another player along the way, you can either take up to three of his pine cones, or give him up to three of your pine cones to lighten your load – which adds a bit of strategy to the game.  The player that collects the most pine cones at his home wins.  It’s really cute game that I don’t think is on the market any longer, unfortunately.

Orchard (Obstgarten): This is a cool game from the German toy titanic “Haba” – one of the best toy companies in the world.  This game is a top seller in Germany and Austria, but doesn’t seem to be as well known in North America.  We have it and have had lots of fun playing it.  It is a cooperative game, where you roll a nice wooden die, and depending on the colour you roll, you pick a wooden fruit from a tree and put it in your basket (e.g. if you roll red, you pick a cherry, if you roll green, you pick an apple, etc.)  If you roll “the Raven”, then you put a piece of the raven puzzle together.  If the raven puzzle is built before all the players collect all the fruit, then the raven wins.  If you collect all the fruit before the raven puzzle is complete, then all the players win.  We have a lot of fun with this and it is great for learning about fruits and colours.  The little baskets for collecting the fruit are really cute, and the pieces are all high quality solid wood.  I also like that this is a cooperative game.

So there you have it, some fun ideas to get you started back in the world of board games and to help you revive your family board game night.  Do you have a favourite board game or childhood board game memory?  Do you agree that parents don’t generally try to play board games with younger kids?  Leave a comment and let us know!

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