PLAY-TITUDE 28: FAMILY NIGHT FUN BUILDS A LIFETIME OF PLAYFULNESS!

When my children were little we used to have family night every Friday night.  There were four of us and once a month one of us got to choose the night’s activities.  We would go to movies or have game nights or go to unlimited pizza joints or build legos—all depending on who was planning the night.  On Thursday night the person planning would announce their choice and on Friday all of us would join in on the fun.  It was a lovely tradition that lasted for a number of years until teen-age Friday night activities eventually took over.

One of my favorite of our Friday night evenings would be when we had game night.  Scrabble, Monopoly, Catch Phrase, Trivial Pursuit, Aggravation and more.  Those evenings of laughter around games are some of my most fond memories of raising my children.  We would make popcorn and gather at the big table in the family room.  We would light a fire in the fireplace and open the coffee table so that we could all sit comfortably around the perimeter and we would get out a game to play.  The play would be sometimes aggressive, sometimes a noisy ruckus, sometimes silly and always lots of fun.  It is funny to think of the competitive brawls we would get into over a marble race as we played Aggravation.  Or the way my daughter’s and my minds would be working in tandem as we would play Pictionary—our quick drawings easily guessed by the other—we played as if we were reading each other’s minds.

Many things have changed since those nights of long ago.  Both of my children are making their way into an adult world.  Those nights are a memory but a memory that is part of the foundation of our history.  We have a history of play.  And that history is available to me—to each of us whenever we want to call upon it.   Tonight my daughter is having her bachelorette party to celebrate her soon-to-be nuptials.  (I can’t believe the wedding is only four weeks away!)  They are in Canada where she is having a game night of sorts with her friends and soon to be bridesmaids.  They will probably get a little wild and have great fun.  

This I know…life changes and life stays the same.  We grow up and out of family traditions.  Yet, what we built from those fun experiences is a constant inside of us.  Making fun memories with our children is golden and the foundation of those experiences is built and lasts with us through life’s changes.  Birth, childhood, teenage years, young adulthood and eventually a family of her own.  Who knows…maybe sometime in the not-to-distant future my daughter will be having a family night with her own family.  The history that is a part of her family of origin taking on a new twist...with a family of her own.   And just maybe—on occasion they will invite me over to join in the family night fun. 

PLAY-TITUDE #28:   LIFE CHANGES BUT THOSE TRADITIONS OF FUN WE BUILD ARE FOREVER!

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