Tough Decisions

OK, so today we were playing a game. You know that "game" when we were kids, "Bubble Gum", that you used to pick someone to be "it" in tag or something? Well, my kids think that it's a game all by itself. We have to set rules that you can't "wish" for more than 20 "pieces" of gum, or the kids will say they want 100.

We decided to add a little bit of extra "excitement" to the game. If you were the owner of the foot that got "out", you would be asked a random question and if you answered correctly, you would be able to keep your foot in the game. The problem is that when you look at the excited eyes of those kids, you can't just ask them a question like "What is the cubed root of 23639903". (287, just in case you were wondering) You have to ask them something that they're likely to get right, so they don't get upset.

So the game started to get a little long. One time I got picked, and my 8-year-old asked the question "How do you spell Abed-nego?" Just an interesting character from the old testament. Anyway, so I hear a couple of gasps and/or haha's from the other kids, thinking "Yeah, there's NO WAY dad will be able to spell that!" So just to prove them wrong, I rattled off "A-B-E-D-hyphen-N-E-G-O". Perfect, I think, sure that the kids would all be amazed. When Josh says "no, there's no hyphen!" OK, now my personality is one that almost immediately needs to verify my own accuracy, and normally, I'd look it up right away and show everyone and pretty much say "Hah, in your face! Dad's right! Just like always! You will NEVER trick me! Bwah hah hah!" Or somthing like that. This time, though, I thought "If I get out, then it's just that much closer to the end of the game." (Later, we dubbed it "the game that never ends".)

So I was in a quandary. Do I allow the humiliation of not being able to spell Abed-nego to try to finish the game faster, or do stroke the ego a little bit and prove that I'm right?

Anyone who knows me well, I'm sure is willing to bet a lot of money that I'd prove myself right. Well, before you get out your wallets and call your bookie, you ought to know that against all odds, I opted for finishing the game earlier. It was a fun, silly, game. And the kids had a great time. Other questions were things like "what's 1600 times 1600?" (that's a question that got mom out). Oh well. Good times.

We also played other games like Operation, Candy Land, and War (you know, with a deck of cards). Board games aren't my favorite, but I had a great time just doing stuff with my family. I've been feeling like I haven't been spending time with the kids lately (see my previous post), and so it was awesome. And it's great to have my fix for another crazy week!