Here’s a fun idea that fosters a sense of family unity, and that also helps children develop their problem-solving and evaluation skills. The idea is to start a family rating system for books, movies, TV shows, and even pizza or ice-cream.
In my literacy work, we don’t only want children to learn to read. We want them to learn to love reading, to love books. There are some truly marvelous, magical children’s books available. And there are some that aren’t. I think it’s important that kids know they don’t have to love all books.
As a parent, I definitely want my children to love books. I also want my children to develop independent thinking skills. If they like a TV show, why do they like it? Is it because it’s funny, or interesting, or is it because their best friend likes it, or is it just because it’s on TV at the moment?
Show your children the restaurant or movie ratings in the newspaper. And then work with them to develop your own family rating system. You can use stars, or smiley faces, or letter grades, or something silly. Maybe it’s a hit, or a flop. Maybe it’s an elephant, maybe it’s an ant. Some friends of ours have an unofficial rating system. If they love a movie, they call it a “buyer”, because they would like to buy it for their collection.
If you want to take this further, you can graph out a system for evaluating ice-cream or favorite foods. You can have columns for number of flavors, taste, or price. Charting helps develop visual and logical/mathematical skills. Figuring out why we like or dislike something develops comparative skills and a sense of self.
The main thing though, is that children love to express their opinions. And it’s fun for the whole family to decide what their favorite pizza place is, or what movies are “Smith Family favorites” or “Goldman’s Top Rating”.