Follow The Leader - Shhhh

Have you ever wished that your children would sit still at parties and not cause trouble? How do we stop children from running about during gatherings, parties and functions?

My answer is: GAMES

You may think I’m crazy but read on.

Do you know the game “Follow the Leader”? After some modification, it turned out to be a quiet game I played with my children when I wanted them to stop running and jumping.

Here’s how:

1. Form a circle.
2. Pick a leader on rotating basis. Usually, I would start and my children follow.
3. Pick an action. Eg: clap your hands very slowly and silently without any sound.
4. Let the children do as you do. Everyone does the same action at the same time.
5. Repeat with another action.

What made it fun were the actions, the speed and the transition. I would show them a slow action and suddenly change to a more complicated and fast action. Boy, did they enjoy themselves.

This idea came to me when we were at my friend’s house warming party. The children were running about after food and to stop them from running, I had to think of a game fast. I didn’t want to ask them to sit quietly because I knew they were very excited over the big garden and specious living hall of the house. So, replacing their existing game with another game sort of saved the day. They sat down happily and enjoyed every minute of it.

Well, what about you? How do you stop your children from running about during parties and gatherings?