How I stay connected with my kids

In our home it revolves around a nightly ritual.

Good morning!

This is how the pre-bedtime routine usually goes in our house.

Daughter (14) says to me from the other side of the sofa, “Puzzles?".

To which I lower my glasses and get my phone out of my pocket and say a simple “yep”.

First we start with Songless, where you have to guess the song based on 1 second of audio (then 2 seconds, 3 seconds etc).

Then move to Wordle. No explanation needed.

Then Connections, where the aim is to match a series of 4 words together without any clues, trying to deduce the theme that connects them.

Finally finishing up with Strands. I like this the most. It’s basically a word find but there’s a theme to all the words and you have to find that too.

Some nights it takes us 10 minutes, others 20 with interruptions to make cups of tea or if the puzzles are exceptionally hard.

But it’s not really about the puzzles.

It’s about connecting with each other.

A ritual like puzzles provides a mental and emotional appointment with each other. Something we can hold each other accountable for doing and something that rounds out our day.

We always sit next to each other, and only use one phone that we alternate holding.

At the end of the puzzle time - I’m offered a simple ‘nigh night, love you’, to which I respond with the same words.

A smile, then off to bed.

So how do I stay connected with my non-puzzle-doing-son (about to turn 16)?

I’ll share that on Monday morning.

Enjoy your weekend,

Wade