Fun for the whole family????

Doubtful.

How about family game night? Sounds easy right? Who doesn't have board games or even just a deck of cards? In our house it can be excrutiatingly painful to try and play even a game of "Go Fish" with all three kids and my husband. My ADHD son can't sit still and usually ends up rolling around on the floor on top of the cards, while FASD daughter can't remember who asked for which card and gets frustrated because she "never" wins. Typical daughter loses it when the others won't play by the rules, and I end up nagging everyone to "don't bend the cards" or "hold your cards up so no one sees what you have". Meanwhile, my husband is trying to watch the hockey game with the sound off and play at the same time.

Have you tried the games that include using the tv and a dvd? Who gets to hold the remote? Who can stop themselves from blurting out the answer to the question when it isn't even their turn? Who always presses the wrong button on the remote forcing the actual player to have to answer another question that they don't know the answer to but knew the answer to the first question?

So you may have guessed that group games aren't a strong point in our house, however games that only require two players are much more successful. Any two of us can get along enough to play almost any game. I've learned not to watch my two youngest attempt to play chess. If they want to make up their own moves for each piece, go for it. I really don't care if they play by the actual chess rules or not - but could they at least agree not to make them up as they go along?

Card games with my son are one of the best ways to help him focus when he's detoxing from him video games. He's very bright and quick to pick up on the rules, despite his inability to sit still. We'll play Crazy 8's, or War (his favorite because it never ends), Speed or Fish. Plus Grampa taught him Black Jack so he likes the idea of betting and winning pennies.

For my FASD daughter it can be tough for her to keep up mentally with everyone in a card game, so one on one with her works best. Of course if she's lost track of what we're supposed to be doing she decides to just play by whatever rules she wants to instead of asking for help. And if she's losing at any point in the game, she'll throw down her cards and yell "Winner puts it away!"

My typical daughter is a rule follower so there are no deviations or adjustments to any game. Especially with board games.

Then there's my husband who insists on reading the entire directions outloud(including the set up) for board games. If anyone interrupts him, he has to start over which drives the kids crazy cause they just want to play the darn game!

Of course I'm not innocent in all of this either. I like basic card games that I actually have a chance at winning. I don't let the kids win a game - they're way too old for that now. Crib takes too long and requires too much math for my liking. If I have to referree too many times during a game I'll try and end it quickly. I will always insist that the board game be put away in it's box properly with all pieces accounted for. (My typical daughter and I are anal that way!) If the games takes too long I get frustrated. I won't play a game that involves betting even if it's just pennies. (We can't use pretzels because I end up eating mine.)

So for now, I guess we'll never be the family on tv that plays nicely all together. We still have fun - it's just different fun for each of us.