As I look out my window on this warm February morning dreaming of what Spring may bring, I am overwhelmed with thoughts of families suffering from cabin fever. The stress of being cooped up in a confined space with humans in various stages of their lives combating multiple challenges must be straining relationships by now. Bickering siblings, the procrastinating teenager grating on her parents’ last nerve, the energetic toddler with no space to run, and even the lovers who are on the verge of a nuclear meltdown all because everyone is “bored”. This is a common household problem during the winter, especially when the weather teases you with tropical warmth and the rain that comes with it.
While scrolling through my memories on Facebook this morning, I discovered one from a couple of years ago. I give kudos to the person who thought of this little feature. We forget many things we have done in life. Mostly we tuck it away in a file drawer at the back of our minds waiting for a trigger that would allow us to retrieve it. However, if we share our journey with the world, Facebook is ever faithful in showing us what we once thought was forgotten – misdeeds and all!
I wanted to share with you one of my memories that helped us scare away the boredom monster for a few hours. This was a fun project I learned in my creative writing class a few decades ago before high school reunions became my new norm. I shared it with my girls before the presence of my son took residence in my womb, and I plan on doing this with him when he is able to comprehend words. You can read more about this project on my previous blog post at Creating Family Time with Our Words. Please have fun with it. Play some music in the background, or do it to no distractions for greater emphasis on shared thoughts. By the end, your family will have shared some laughs, strengthen their bond, and walk away with a project they can be proud of while storing away another fantastic memory.
Project:
Ransom Note Poem
Prep:
Cut out a bunch of words and phrases that you like from magazines. The bigger, brighter, bolder the better. You can put them in one big pile for every one to share or you can create your own piles and share the words that you won’t use.
Challenge:
Create a poem by pasting only the words you cut out of the magazines. You cannot write in your own words. You will have extra words once you decide what poem you want to create. This is the time to share your words for others who may be in need of a specific word (and they will do the same for you).
The result:
Several hours of family fun while creating a silly mesh or words that each member of the family can be proud of. Technically speaking, we are teaching our children vocabulary, sentence structure, poem formation, project development, planning, working together as a team, using our imagination, patience and sharing.
Flush Perfection Quietly
by Stacy N. Elliott
Storytime is a marriage of words
For a rainy day and family time madness.
It’s a blast to go to a bubbly world
After your sister offers a sparkle of crazies.
Life is simply a vibrant dream
Especially when love stains the heart with a beautiful smile.
Stacy N. Elliott 
You must be logged in to post a comment.