We’ve all been there before. The kids’ voices rise in decibel level until you’re pretty sure you’re going to have to schedule an ear doctor appointment soon. Arguments happen. Someone gets called a name. With an exaggerated sigh you finally say, in your best earnest voice, “Hey, why don’t we play the quiet game?”

 

Suddenly that yelling turns into laughter.

 

Too bad they’ve heard that before.

 

When my nieces were little this is exactly the problem I ran into. Most children have heard of the quiet game in one form or the other (for me it always went, “Quiet water, still water 1 2 3). Thus, children are not so inclined to play this thinly veiled game to keep them hushed up.

 

However, what seemed like the 100th time of being rejected I finally declared, “Hey, I have a new game.” What followed was a new take on the very fun “Ghosts in the Graveyard.” If you’ve never played that game it’s essentially where a group goes outside at night and plays hide and seek, the found person is the ghost. This time instead of letting them play outside they each had to lay down and pretend to be asleep. If any of them moved they would awaken the ghosts in the graveyard, eliciting a loud “ooooooh” from me. Giggling ensues.

 

It’s a fun game that keeps them calm, and of course quiet for those times when you need to stop the endless screaming. It wasn’t long before I mixed that up too. They might be an astronaught in a deep sleep until the mission is complete, Dracula waiting for nightfall, or even a mummy wrapped up in their intricate coffin.

 

That best part? The kids LOVED it.

 

It no longer became a way to get a moment’s rest, though it leaned to that by default, but became a whole bonding experience. Now they my two nieces are older they also play the game with their younger brother. And someday, who knows, maybe they’ll play these silly quiet games with their children.