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We just spent a few days at a lake house that included a couple of games for rainy days. This one emerged as everyone’s favorite.
Although it’s labeled “for kids,” it was fun for the adults too! The cards include clues with pictures so that non-readers can play. There are several levels of play, making the game accessible to younger kids while still challenging for older ones and grown-ups.
Charades for Kids is available on Amazon for under $10.
Sales of note for 8.30.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 30% off full-price purchase; $99 jackets, dresses & shoes; extra 50% off sale
- Banana Republic Factory – 50-70% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 20% off
- Eloquii – Up to 60% off everything; extra 60% off all sale
- J.Crew – 40% off sitewide; extra 60% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – Extra 20% off orders $125+; extra 60% off clearance; 60%-70% off 100s of styles
- Lands’ End – 40% off sitewide; 50% off backpacks, 40% off kids’ apparel
- Loft – Summer sale, 30% off new arrivals; up to 50% off much more
- Talbots – 25% off regular-price purchase; 70% off clearance
- Zappos – 28,000+ women’s sale items! (check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kids’ shoe brands on sale)
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – 50% off everything
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 40% off everything
- J.Crew Crewcuts – 40% off sitewide; extra 50% off sale styles
- Old Navy – 50-60% off; 50% off pants for the family
- Target – 20% off select clothing for all; up to 50% off home; up to 30% off select nursery furniture; up to 30% off kitchen & dining
Anon for this says
Would love some tips on combating the anger I feel taking over my life – most of it is just dealing with a really cranky and ungrateful 9yo son, a spirited and defiant 4yo daughter and a 2yo son who is as sweet as can be but just so, so needy and clingy. I feel touched-out all the time and the consistent loud noise of what I think is just normal life is so triggering. I’ve been chronically exhausted for nearly a decade and work in a job that is so demanding at times, and I definitely do not exercise as much as I’m supposed to but I’m trying.
I know the answer is to be more gentle with myself, fill my cup first, outsource/pay for help, but it just doesn’t seem like there is any room anywhere for time or money. We are taking a much-overdue adult-only trip next week so I hope that I can use that time to chill out and come back refreshed. But what else do I need to do when I come back? I really don’t like the mom I am becoming — my mother was a screamer and I am headed that way — and I want to do anything I can to really start to turn things around.
Anon says
Some level of being touched out and exhausted is par for the course with young kids, but this sounds like more than normal parental exhaustion to me. I know it’s recommended a lot here, but it sounds to me like you could benefit from therapy and possibly meds. Anger is a big depression symptom in women. I don’t mean that in a judgmental way — I think it’s great that you’re being proactive about this and trying to break the cycle.
I hope the adults only vacation is restful and restorative!
Clementine says
Ohhh friend. I feel you on a deep and profound level. I’ll share my experience.
I love my kids. I love my spouse. I work in a field I love (not gonna say I love my job but it has many good aspects). I’ve talked about it on here – husband had a job where he was gone for months at a time and local family is… not helpful. I wasn’t sleeping, I had some MAJOR major life stresses on top of each other, and I started being snappy and frankly was so burnt out I was at the point of cracking.
What made it better was realizing that there was no amount of self care that would help me. There were not enough sheet masks in the world to fix it. I ended up making the decision to stay working but had to address the boundaries I needed (70 hours a week wasn’t working…). The big thing we did was get an au pair who helped with drop offs/pick-ups, kid laundry, and provide consistent breaks for me. Doing these things allowed me to actually get to a point where things like brushing my hair and flossing weren’t overwhelming. Ultimately, husband switched careers to be more of an active parent in our kids’ lives… but there wasn’t a magical secret.
I do all the other things – have gone to therapy, manage my stress through exercise, meal plan and prep, organize stuff the night before… but I had to lower my expectations on me in order to help my burnout.
anon says
When my husband and I were both burnt out to this level we found that we had to make a change to our daily lives–periodic breaks weren’t enough. We swapped from daycare to in home childcare (we got an au pair, but a nanny would be similar). This saved us daily drop offs/pick ups, getting kids ready and out the door every morning, sick days, school breaks, the tantrums that come from kids during transitions to and from daycare, better naps for our 2 yo which calmed our house considerably, help with some chores such as kid laundry, etc. Our whole lives improved.
I also swapped jobs and moved in house, so I had more control over my schedule. That also really, really helped.
We needed big changes. Small breaks just weren’t going to do it given how distressed we were from trying to survive daily life.
Anonymous says
Therapy. A better routine. Probably a more involved spouse. Maybe antidepressant meds (rage is a depression symptom for many women)
Anon says
I’ll just ask, 9 yos aren’t really known for being cranky and defiant–that’s more of a teenage thing. What’s going on there? It sounds like he’s unhappy with his life for some reason and it might help to also get to the bottom of that.
Anon says
Do you have kids that age? 9-10 is when puberty begins in many girls and hormones surge, and even kids who aren’t in puberty are usually testing boundaries and being defiant. Teens are actually often more pleasant than tweens (especially older teens, ~16-18).
Anon says
Yes, I have an 8 and 10 yo girls. We have moments, but they’re pretty happy kids. The cranky and defiance tends to come out when they’re stressed or unhappy.
If it’s puberty, then that could be the answer, but it wasn’t clear that was part of what is going on from OP’s post.
Anon says
I’ll just add that while kids come a certain way, lots of negative behaviors get worse when something is off, be it not enough sleep, enough downtime, growth spurt, not enough 1:1 time with a parent, issues at school or camp, family dynamics, etc. I was just suggesting that maybe sorting out the 9 yo may help with the overall picture.
Boston Legal Eagle says
LOL, tell that to my first. He was born defiant. That comes with a ton of positives too. But a calm, gentle, grateful child is not one.
Anon says
Yeah my 6 year old is an incredibly joyful kid but also has a ton of attitude and defiance. This is very relatable to me, and people regularly remake on what a ray of sunshine she is. Which she is! But also very stubborn and strong willed. Not mutually exclusive at all. And puberty isn’t even a factor yet.
Boston Legal Eagle says
Hugs. I hear you. Kids are really tough, especially when they are all relatively little. I’ll second the therapy and meds if needed, if anything just to help you reframe the kids’ behavior a bit. If they were fully formed adults, they would be seen as rude, ungrateful, selfish, etc. etc. But they’re kids. And we can’t take what they say or do so personally. You sound like you need a weekly break from the chaos. Set up a sitter or your spouse for a once a week thing where you can just not be a mom or house caretaker for a night.
rakma says
Complete commiseration. This is very much how I would have described my life about a year ago.
Some things that have helped–
I moved my bedtime up an hour, even if I don’t go to sleep that early. For me, the daily break was more important than longer less frequent breaks. I try to read during this time, but don’t beat myself up if I end up scrolling on my phone.
A variety of changes to improve sleep quality, including a new mattress and a magnesium supplement.
Antidepressants — prescribed for perimenopausal sleep stuff but ended up helping more with yelling then I anticipated.
Ear plugs–sometimes I just need 20 minutes of less noise.
AwayEmily says
YES to sleep. Lots of other great ideas here too, but sleep is the foundation of everything — and also an “easier” problem to solve as a first step.
Anonymous says
Hear me out: Try a “sleep divorce.” Sleeping in separate rooms is AWESOME. You get that little bit of evening wind-down time all to yourself, no one wakes you up with snoring or tossing and turning, you don’t worry about waking anyone else up if you are restless, and if you wake up in the middle of the night you can turn on a show so you can easily go back to sleep.
Anonymous says
Not the same exact circumstances, but I could have written what you wrote about how you’re feeling about 18 months ago. I’m not necessarily a jump to therapy first person in every context (I’ve had therapy that was not helpful in the past) but I found a decent therapist, and it helped me SO MUCH. It’s nice to be like “fill your cup first,” but I absolutely did not have the mental energy to figure out what, exactly, could actually fill my cup in the context of very limited free time. Therapy gave me an hour every other week that I could do that mental work. It also helped me figure out my specific triggers, which I wasn’t really pinpointing before (since it all just seemed to be SO MUCH), and doing that was amazing for staving off the on-edge feeling I was experiencing daily.
Anon says
My friend was doing parent child interactive therapy and it got me curious and I found a website about it- pocket PCIT, I will try and reply with a link to avoid mod. Using some of the techniques really helped my relationship with my kids and brought my stress down.
Anonymous says
For me the solution was quitting my toxic job. It was taking so much out of me that I didn’t have any patience left to deal with my family annoyances.
Anon says
This game looks fun!
DLC says
My niece has this and everyone (kids from 4-12 and the adults) had a great time with it last time we visited. I don’t know that one needs a deck to play charades, but it’s an easy screen free option to find words/phrases.
We also have Guestures, but that’s more competitive and requires everyone be able to read in order to really play.
SC says
I played a few weeks ago when we visited a family friend, and it was fun! My husband and son opted not to play, so know your family.