Monthly Archives: May 2016

Review, Toys

Review: Back Spin from ThinkFun

Back Spin from ThinkFun
I recevied a copy of the new ThinkFun game, Back Spin, to play with and review. Opinions are 100% my own.

I’m a big fan of the ThinkFun library of games. We have quite a few of their brain teasing puzzles. Back Spin is a simple concept. It is a disc that rotates and it is covered with 35 balls of 9 colors. There is one empty space. First you mess up the balls so that the colors are mixed. You then rotate the discs and pass one ball from back to front until all the balls are back with their original colors. The concept is simple but trying to get the right colors back in their place can be a real challenge. Luckily ThinkFun games are about challenge and not impossibility. The game can be solved and is for ages 8 and up. It is also nice and flat and self contained so it is great for car trips. Here is my complete video review of the game.

Family, Netflix Stream Team, Photo-A-Day, Television

Conversations With Your Kids, There’s an Ep for That! #StreamTeam

Polite Little Kiddos
Photo-A-Day #4063

Today’s post is inspired by my participation in the Netflix StreamTeam program. I am compensated yearly for my participation and write these fun posts all year long. My opinions of Netflix and the shows are 100% my own.

I also wanted to point out that this image of my kids was chosen because when I take them out for meals I often get complimented on their manners and behavior. Today was one of those days. Okay, on to the actual topic at hand.

My kids are growing up. As they are getting older they are dealing with new thoughts and feelings and new situations. My daughter is in a school all week long interacting with tons of children from other families. She’s seeing other values than those that we are trying to instill in her. Sometimes we need to have a conversation about those feelings.

There was one story where Eva wanted to play with some of her friends. They were all pretending to be police dogs. She wanted to be a police woman. They said no, that she had to be a police dog. To me that wasn’t a huge deal because all the kids were police dogs. If they had all been police women or policemen and made Eva be the police dog, then that would have been more of a problem in my eyes. She’s had a couple of incidents like this where one kid wants play to be a specific way and it doesn’t sit right with Eva. We’ve had discussions about seeking out other friends to play with. These conversations that we have had with Eva have been productive.

I often watch TV with the kids. We watch many shows together and sometimes they spark discussions. Netflix is saying, There’s an Ep for that. There are many episodes of shows on Netflix that can help start a discussion with your kids. The nice thing about watching the same show with them is that you have common language and references to discuss. If a character acts a certain way in a situation we can talk about how Eva would react in the same situation. Did the character act true to their beliefs and values? Did they sacrifice or suppress their good values to go along with the crowd? Continue reading Conversations With Your Kids, There’s an Ep for That! #StreamTeam →