The sweets & sours game

A great conversation starter for the dinner table is the sweets and sours game. This is a wonderful family connection activity that is ideally done at the dinner table, when the whole family is together. You get to hear about everyone’s day and teach your children how to label their feelings – getting beyond the ‘noise and clutter’ of the day!

Round one :

Each person gets a chance to share a ‘sour’ (we say it is “the worst thing that happened in your day”). Mention what it is and how it made you feel. Eg. “By mistake I left my takkies at home so I couldn’t play tennis. I was very cross with myself because I really wanted to play.” Dad may say something like, “I got caught in a traffic jam and was really late for a meeting with a client. It made me irritated because it’s rude to be late.”

Round two :

Each person gets to share a ‘sweet’ (we say it is “the best thing that happened in your day”). Mention what it is and how it made you feel. Eg. “Robyn came to play with me this afternoon and we had fun. It made me happy.”

During the process, no family member may interrupt another. It is a game about listening and sharing. My youngest son was 3 ½ when we started playing it. I thought he would be too young to participate but I was taken by surprise as he actually led the process from day one, and still does today.

Yours in good parenting, because parenting matters!

______Tel: +27 11 462 1828 • Cell: +27 83 265 5754 [email protected] • www.nikkibush.com ABOUT NIKKI BUSH

Inspirational speaker and best-selling author, Nikki Bush, is highly regarded among business people, educators and parents alike as she helps them to makes sense of, and stay connected in, a fast-changing world. Her work is fuelled by her passion for play, connection and relationships. She is fondly referred to as a Creative Parenting Expert in parenting circles and is gaining a reputation as a Talent Whisperer in the corporate sphere.

She is the co-author of three bestselling books: Future-proof Your Child (Penguin, 2008), Easy Answers to Awkward Questions (Metz Press, 2009) and Tech-Savvy Parenting (Bookstorm, 2014).

Nikki writes a weekly column called Parenting Matters® which is used in many school newsletters and on corporate intranets around the country. She is a regular guest on radio and TV and is often quoted in the print media (over 100 appearances in 2014 alone). She is the parenting expert on SABC3’s Expresso, the resident family and child- development expert on 702’s Redi Thlabi show and is on the advisory team for Living & Loving magazine, among others. She launched her own online parenting TV channel in January this year – just Google NikkiBush.tv.

Nikki is also a guest lecturer at Wits Business School, GIBS and Henley Business School She is married to Simon, they have two sons aged 16 and 20, and they live in Johannesburg.

Visit www.nikkibush.com for more information.

______Tel: +27 11 462 1828 • Cell: +27 83 265 5754 [email protected] • www.nikkibush.com