By Kelli Bowen
It has been cold as a witch’s…certain anatomy part…lately so it gets interesting trying to find activities to keep the children content. I mean Miss A is down for binge-watching television with snacks at all times…me too A…me too…
But I’m pretty sure someone somewhere warned of the dangers of too much screen-time and when my children start arguing over who’s Buttercup and who’s Blossom (obviously I am Bubbles), it is time to get off the MoJoJoJo and onto something else.
Enter Scrabble.
I LOVE Scrabble. I have loved Scrabble since I was a kid and used to play with my Grandma when I stayed at her house overnight. I rarely won. I’d also play with my childhood BF and her mom. I rarely won. Now that I’m older, a lot of the time I win.
I have passed my love of games to Miss E. Hubby isn’t a fan of board games. I do believe he hates them, but after we made our own little people, he will tolerate a game now and then especially if Miss A or Miss E ask him to play. The last few nights we have found ourselves playing Scrabble.
The night before last, we were mid-game, and Miss E declares: “I have a word, but it’s naughty.” My children are in the softened state of affairs where words like “dumb” are now considered naughty, but by the way she was giggling, I knew she was actually dabbling in the adult naughty word list.
I try not to go overboard and make things bigger deals than warranted. We have discussed how people make assumptions about others when they hear a person speak, so even though words are just words, we don’t want to use naughty words regularly or in mixed company. We don’t want to try to hurt people with what we say. )Etc, Etc., Etc.) This also falls under “Do as I say, not as I do” parenting, cause mamma is sometimes a sailor.
ANYWHO…since we are playing a game of words, and because I was curious, I said “Naughty words are words. If it’s your best shot for points, play it.” She says “I need to find an open C.”
Oh snap. For a moment, just a moment, I thought my angelic firstborn was going to drop a 4-letter mother of all swear words, to which I was both shocked, horrified, and dare I say-proud.
She found her opening and laid her tiles. After she counted her points and giggled away at this new sassy taste of freedom, I exhaled a sigh of relief and noticed she was still holding a P on her tray.
“You could have played ‘Pitch’ you know.”
Miss E giggled and giggled as she tallied up her points and she swore up and down she had never said this particular female-dog-describing word out loud. I was thinking how glad I was she didn’t lay a 4-letter word with a C in it, so for those reasons, and because I can still slaughter a 9-year-old in Scrabble, I win.
Kelli makes her home in Cass County with her husband, two daughters (8 and 5) and two dogs. She works for a regional seed company by day and tries to be an alright mom, wife, friend and writer by night.
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