Tonight at dinner, my 7 year old son suggested that we play the “quiet game”. In case you don’t have kids, or have never seen a kid, the game goes like this: Everybody’s silent and the last person to make a noise is the winner. Well, we were just a few minutes into the game when I found it quite hard to contain my laughter. Luckily, just then, I was distracted by my son when he said, “Pause” and then went on to talk about how his younger sister and brother should be out for noises they made. After filing his official complaint against them, he said, “Unpause–back to the game!” And not a minute later, he said it again, “Pause” and then went on to talk about something else. After he was done, he said “unpause–back to the game!” Clearly it was either he or I who didn’t completely understand the premise of winning this game.
My wife chimed in and said, “Pause…I think the quiet game is pointless if whenever you want to talk you can just say ‘pause’. Unpause–back to the game!”
Then I just couldn’t resist trying out this new clause in the game. So I said, “Pause…I just want to say that when Macy (our 5 year old) said ‘I’m not out!’, I think that’s the funniest thing you can say when playing the quiet game! Because the very statement that got her out was a declaration that she’s not out. I just think that’s hilarious! Unpause–back to the game!”
Rules are great things. The keep us safe on the road (usually), they keep our society moving in civility. That is, of course, until they become inconvenient. There’s more to say here, but I’ve got to run. Maybe I’ll keep this up later on. Maybe not…..Pause.