Forced Family Fun

Forced Family Fun. Yep, you read that right. We force our family to have fun --together! We are that mean and unreasonable. Shocking, isn't it?

Forced Family Fun isn't a regularly scheduled thing - sometimes it is planned, sometimes it is spontaneous. The Big Guy and/or I will decide that all the Farm inhabitants (except the dog and chickens) need some time together to laugh and just be. You know those days when everyone seems just a bit out of sorts and a tad bit grumpy? Those are perfect days to force your family to have fun!

It probably sounds odd saying that we need time together. I mean we homeschool for pete's sake. The kids and I are together A LOT! Thankfully, the Big Guy is around lots, too. The 7 of us eat almost every meal together actually. That's some together time.

Forced Family Fun is a different type of together. Let me explain...

On any given night, Big Guy will announce at dinner that we'll be having Forced Family Fun at, say 7 pm. All of the kids start clapping and laughing joyfully. (Not. The older guys will maybe roll their eyes just the tiniest bit because some part of their plans for the night just put off for a while. The younger kids DO get excited.) We'll get dinner cleaned up and then at 7 pm gather in the living room. Once there, the plans for Forced Fun are announced. The Fun is often a game or a book, sometimes a board or card game, but more often than not we play charades.

How's that for some Forced Family Fun? Charades!

Truth be told it is a great game to play in a family. Lots of other games are very age specific. Take Candy Land (PLEASE take it from my home!). The 6 year old would love to play Candy Land, but the older boys would rather sort socks or turn compost or, well, you get the idea. Everyone in our family can act from the littlest on up the line. What kid doesn't like to act?

Usually, the Big Guy writes down a bunch of books, movies, characters, animals, "things," people, even sayings that can be acted out and hands them out as we go along. Sometimes, the older kids make up their own. I give the Big Guy his assignments. We've taught them the basics of the game like how to indicate that the thing to be guessed has two words in it. Sometimes we get very fancy and break it down into syllables. Yes, we're crazy around here. It doesn't take long before we are all laughing and yelling and enjoying the gift of each other.

What does Forced Family Fun accomplish? I just told you... "It doesn't take long before we are all laughing and yelling and enjoying the gift of each other."