Team Punchbuggy

As a mom to five spirited children I continually have to come up with creative ways to encourage them to help keep me sane.

In an effort to limit the amount of excessive noise while riding in the car, I often engage the young ones in a game. The gang is always up for some friendly, or not so, competition. They have all inherited my “anything to win” cutthroat attitude. Over the years the children have adapted the old 20 Questions and I Spy games making up their own versions: What Am I Thinking, How Many Dogs Will We Pass Before Arriving at___The First One to Find a ­­­­_____, and Who Can Hold Their Breath the Longest (my personal favorite ;-) ). We are so incredibly skilled that we often play several of these at once. There is always a winner and thus always several losers. The biggest rivalry, by far, is the never ending Slugbug contest.

One day I casually mentioned that when I was a child I would hit my brothers whenever I spotted a Slugbug. I was an expert Slugbug finder. I could spot a Slugbug miles away, punch all three boys and have no recourse from my parents. My brothers hated everything about the game. They wouldn’t dare hit a girl and they hated to lose any type of competition to me. It was heavenly.

I should have known by their gaping mouths and wide eyes that I was opening a door into a past that my children never expected. They were in awe that I, their loving mother who stresses the importance of honor and fairness on an hourly basis, engaged in such a violent and unjust game. It was on, sans the hitting, which well… makes the game pretty lame and boring but nonetheless. To make it fair for The Littles we work in teams. I am on Team Punchbuggy Punkins.

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