Recently, Heidi Stevens , the Features Editor at the Chicago Tribune contacted me because she liked my article on “Nine Tips to Get Your Child to Talk About Her School Day,” and wanted to interview me for an article she was writing on that topic.
Last week, her article, “Kids Won’t Talk About School? Experts Reveal How to Get Kids of All Ages to Talk To You About Their School Day,” ran in the Chicago Tribune and featured some of my suggestions as an expert.She mentioned my points that you should know your child’s friends, what they are doing in class (read up on the class Web site) so you can be an informed conversationalist about her day. Many kids say that recess is their favorite subject so be a student of recess. Know what games they play with the kick ball or what equipment is popular with your child. If snack is important to them, be able to talk snack.Avoid a lot of questions but start some open ended statements and pause for your child to fill in. One of the other experts quoted in the article, Jim Fay, of Love and Logic Institute, suggests a 30 mintue rule which I like. “Make your first half hour together question free.” Let your child relax, get a snack, unwind after his day. Then get the conversation going.
Respond to complaints by problem solving together and working through soluntions, giving your child the words to work through difficulties. If your child says, “I hate math, I’m no good at it,” you might respond by saying, “I’m sorry. I can see you are frustrated. Show me your math book and let’s see what is hard.”
I was listening to WCBS News Radio this week and Charles Grodin did a piece on when you are going to tell about something bad that happened, start with the punch line that everything turned out okay.
So on that note, I will start by saying my husband is okay, thank heavens, but this weekend he was in a bike accident with his biking buddy. They were close to home after a ride, going relatively slow when their wheels collided and both fell. My husband landed on his back, hit his head and was unconscious for a few minutes. I got there when the ambulance and emergency personnel had arrived and were asking him questions (like who is the president of the United States?) He spent a night in the hospital for observations and was released by the neurosurgeon with a diagnosis of a concussion. The emergency room physician said the helmet saved his life. Thank you to Gyro for making such a safe helmet. We know where his head hit because the interior material is compressed and there is no mark on his head.
I found it ironic that as I was sitting in the ambulance waiting for the EMT workers to assess my husband, two teenagers cycled by without helmets. I wanted to yell to them, but they were gone before I knew it.
So let me yell out to whomever is reading this. PLEASE wear a helmet when you ride and make sure your kids always wear a well-fitting helmet whenever they get on a bike. You don’t have to be going fast to get injured.
Truth be told, there is only one honest player at a time in this zany game of pretend to know your friends. Designed for kids to adults, beginning at age 12, “Truth Be Told,” is fun and insightful as players try to bluff their counterparts in answering questions.
Walking by Buffalo Games at the International Toy Fair, I was recruited to join a game of “Truth Be Told.” I was easily convinced since I am a fan of Buffalo Games, having used “The Last Word” with lots of children to build their vocabulary and categorization skills. Back home, I brought it out for some adult fun, gathering family who thought they knew each other. The appointed Host for the round chose a card and read the phrase to be completed such as “I procrastinate when it comes to_______.” The Host secretly wrote the true answer on her card, while other players wrote their bluffs and passed the cards in to be read by the Host. Some of our entries were, “everything”, “homework” and “vacuuming.” The giggles began as players enjoyed their entries, some with a shred of truth and some completely silly. After the Host read the answers, players voted for the true answer on their paddles. Flipping their paddles over, everyone revealed their guess. The Host read the truth and players received points for guessing the truth or fluffing their friends. Our rounds were the funniest when the question closely matched the Host, such as Lauren, a saver, getting “I own five of______” as we’ve all participated in trying to get her to throw anything away.
We agreed that writing on erasable paddles and cards made us feel like we were game show contestants! The best endorsement is that when we finally had a winner with 15 points, another player said, “Are we done? I’m not done. I wanna play more.”
Lots of language is embedded in this game of bluff. Using the game with older children, they have to complete a sentence and give an answer that is credible and related to the player. When playing with children who are building their social language skills, you might read the question and then discuss the Host and their likes and dislikes so the other players can more easily come up with an answer. Or, relate the question to themselves such as “I think I would get the award for “The World’s Best________.” Using the cards informally and modifying the game can be helpful to kids who need more help brainstorming answers to these kinds of questions.
Sherry Artemenko, MA-CCC, is a speech-language pathologist with more than 35 years experience and founder of Playonwords.com. The opinions expressed in this review are solely those of the author. “Truth Be Told” was provided for review by Buffalo Games.
