Friday Fun ~ Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

I our households we get together every two weeks as a family for a fun day. Four grown children, spouses and their children. This weekend is it. We've run into a situation where my grandchildren have started telling fibs. Not the older ones mind you. They've learned they will get caught, but the younger ones not so much. So it's time for "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire."

Years ago I came up with a game when my children were growing up. It was based on the Red light-Green light and Truth or Dare. I'm not the judge. The children are. It gives them a chance to tell whoppers and face the consequences. It also a lesson about lying. All my games and stories have a lesson in there somewhere. The consequences are basically harmless like getting shot with a water gun or sticking your hand into goo and finding a clothes pin of disgrace to wear the rest of the day. I cut the spots out of old carpet or you can use cardboard. They will get messy.

Each older child will serve as the gate keeper to begin with while an adult monitors the game for foul play. They start at the starting line and there are dots for forward progress.  There's about ten spots to the end. When I'm playing this with the older ones, it's twenty. Adults are omnipotent beings which can always tell when children are fibbing in a child's mind although it doesn't stop them from trying.

Playing the game:

• Each child at the starting line and makes the choice to either tell a lie or a truth.

• If they choose a lie, the gatekeeper has to judge whether it's a truth or a lie. This builds decision making skills in the older children.
• If the child telling the lie/truth is judged wrong they put a regular clothes pin on the judge's shirt. Five pins on the judge's shirt gets him replaced. The teller of the truth/ lie step forward one spot.
• If judged right or caught in a lie,the child has to pick a clothes pin out of the bucket of goo and wear it. Five cloths pins and they are out of the game but still need to wear the clothes pins while at Grandma's house.
• This continues on until one child reaches the judge position at the front of the line and becomes the judge. As much as they think of this as a reward, judging right from wrong is hard.
• If a water gun is used no head shots. Those can be painful.

While this is fun for all involved it is also learning.

Now the adults in the group play their own version of "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire" called poker. Usually Texas Hold 'em. We all start out with even amount of chips. They put a dollar per player and we put in ten...so twenty bucks is up for grabs, gas money. With my fuel perks I save that much and more each month with 20 gallons costing me $2.20 to $10 per fill up a month so I can afford it. The winner takes it all.

Whatever you do to have fun- be safe, involve others, and relax. You are among friends.