Thursday, January 24, 2008

How to entertain your kid without getting off your butt

No, we haven't purchased a TV, but we have a new game at home called, "Bowling for Mommy".

It's not as painful as it sounds. Actually it's one of the few games we play where you barely have to move. The game is very simple actually. Lucas stands on one side of the living room (the "arena") with the yoga ball and kicks it at me. If I catch it or stop it from getting by me, I get a point. If it gets by me, Lucas gets a point. If he knocks me down with it, he gets two points. And the best part? I can sit or lay on the ground and don't have to move (except of course to block or catch the ball). I tried at one point to include some isometric abdominal work for me, but that got too tiring.

Another good thing about this game is Lucas has let go of the idea that he always has to win. We talk to him about how playing the game and having fun is more important than winning. In fact, he's given me points. This game also incorporates math concepts, like simple addition (adding 1 point to your total points). Lucas also keeps the score card, so we can remember where we left off when we resume playing after dinner. Our current score card is 100 (Lucas) to 199 (me). We've been playing this for four days now. Lucas says we need to play to 880.

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