February 1, 2002

• I like to introduce culture to my kids. What culture...good question.
  
  Every culture on the face of this ball we call earth. When my biggest was 3 and I didn't have pressing engagements we would spend the day playing new games.
  
  We created a game.....you need a globe, pointer (fingers work nicely ), encyclopedia, an imagination and a willingness to learn.
  
  To play: you must be sitting on the bed together or the floor (beds are much more comfortable) spin the globe, close your eyes, and point making sure that the drag of the pointer drags on the globe causing it to stop. Open your eyes and find out where you are?? Mongolia?? Go look it up in your encyclopedia. Read as interestingly as you can to keep their attention. What is the land like? What kind of food do they eat? What do they do for work? Play? School? Then go there.
  
  To get to the location the kids have to figure out how to get there. Ship? Train? Plane? What is there to do when getting there? Do it. Pretend to be horse farmers or what ever they do there. At meal time....eat similar foods. Drink similar drinks. Make a day of it. Go to as many places as you want. Stay at one place for longer if you want. In this game the end is when the day is done and the kids tell you where they have been, what they did and how they liked it. Parents do the same. The last for the parents is a must, kids want to see that you have had as much fun as they have. They want to see us learning. They want to know that we are open to new experiences. If we close our minds to things as simple as food then they are closed off to more than we are.....well that is what I found out from my kids.
  
  I like the game as much as my kids and we still play when we can.

  • 3:24 am
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