Family Fun Turned Fued…
Every once in a while I’ll insist that we sit down as a family and play games. I have visions of family fun, wonderful cozy memories for our children, a fabulous night punctuated with laughter and popcorn.
What we get is more along the lines of a Jerry Springer episode.
Turns out that we’re ALL horribly competitive and my dh, who will insist he doesn’t care if he wins or not, is usually the first to commence shouting when the game doesn’t go his way.
“Stop hollering. This is Family Fun Night.”
Daughter snorts. “More like Family Fued Night. Momma, you know this never works.  Everybody always ends up mad.”
True, but I am firmly in denial. I grit my teeth and smile. “We’re gonna have fun. Like normal familes.” I point to the happy people on the box. “Like them.”
Son rolls his eyes. “You know that’s not a real family. They’re just people they paid to put on the box.”
“They could be a real family,” I insist.
“No,” he says, “’cause if they were a real family they’d be fighting like us.”
I cling to that as I ponder the sad state of our Family Fun Night. In the end, we did play Imaginiff and it was a wonderful game. We also played Scene It, which was also very fun, but I have to admit that’s where most of the fueding came in. Both dh and son wanted to be the DVD Master, daughter got ticked because she’d set up a lovely “game play” area and no one wanted to sit there. Ultimately, we set it to “party play” and ended up enjoying it more.
So what about ya’ll? Does your family like to play games? Do ya’ll fight? If not, please lie. I’m clinging to the faint hope that we’re normal.
October 9th, 2007 at 7:50 am
I’m not proud, but Girl and I used to brawl every time we played Candyland. She would pitch a fit if she didn’t get the Lollipop Princess and I was too competitive to let her have it. Not pretty. Not pretty at all.
October 9th, 2007 at 8:02 am
I don’t usually fight, per se, but I’m very competitive and am prone to taunting. Loud, obnoxious taunting…
October 9th, 2007 at 8:11 am
October 9th, 2007 at 8:41 am
You know, we really haven’t done family game night yet. Baby Girl’s just now getting old enough that she could play games Sweet Pea’s interested in. We did borrow my sister’s Wii a couple weekends ago though and that was some major family fun. Even DH and I were fighting it out after the kids went to bed.
October 9th, 2007 at 9:18 am
Game night is fun but we do fuss. With a six year old UNO is about all we play.
October 9th, 2007 at 9:33 am
I am a board game nerd. I admit it.
AC is a poor loser though. We’ve been working on it, but she cheats and then pouts. She’s an UNO whiz though…
October 9th, 2007 at 11:01 am
I think our kids are just starting to get old enough where a family game night might work… At this point, it’ll probably be something like Trouble or Candyland
Eeek…
October 9th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Hubby and I like to play Scrabble. We used to play Trivial Pursuit a lot. And we’re both so darned polite about it. But we haven’t played in a long time. He’d rather sit in his media room and watch sports.
October 9th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Jen, I can so see Girl getting ticked over not getting the Lollipop Princess.
Andrea, loud taunting works for me, too.
Ginger, I can imagine some rowdy game time at your house.
Kira, my daughter got a Wii and we love it! We’ve been playing alot, too.
Susan, the reunion was wonderful. D won “Most Gray Hair.”
Kimberly, my kids were always good at Uno, too. It’s a fun game.
Fedora, just wait. Family Fun time is coming to a dining room table to you and yours soon enough.
Lynn, we’ve got Scrabble as well, but since my kids aren’t fond of spelling, it’s not always a hit here.
October 9th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Interestingly enough, Rhonda. Relax, you are normal!! There you have it. Games are no fun, IF there isn’t someone ticked off, someone jealous, someone caught cheating, and someone acting a poor loser. These are musts, you know. Marquis of Queensbury rules abound!!!
October 9th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
All right, we’re the exception to the rule, I suppose. We used to have “family game night” when my brother and I were little…and I don’t remember *any* fighting. Honest.
Payday, Life, Risk and Monopoly were our big ones…not so much Scrabble, although I did have “Scrabble Junior”. We also played card games fairly often, and I’ve just started teaching the Kidlet War, Old Maid, Go Fish and Crazy Eights.
Tons of fun.
Last New Year’s Eve, we grownups played Taboo (girls against the guys) and it was SO fun. And at Christmas the cousins almost inevitably end up playing Scattergories. (WAY fun.)
And thank you…I think I’m going to steal your idea for a blog post. I was just thinking about what I should talk about next…