Tuesday, June 10, 2008

20 Questions

As a way to pass the time on the way to school (and as a method to get the kids to eat a bit faster at dinner) I've started playing 20 questions with them. Most of the time I can easily figure out what they'r thinking of, but every now and then I have a bit of trouble because they're giving me the wrong information. Once you get the basics down it's usually pretty easy to guess what Catherine is thinking of, but it's getting to that basic information that can be a challenge:

Me: Does it have four legs?
Catherine: No.
Me: Ok, so it doesn't have four legs.
Catherine: Oh wait, it does.
Me: Ok, so it does have four legs?
Catherine: .....
Catherine: What was the question? I forgot.

Quinn on the other hand simply provides incorrect information at times. I doubt it's intentional, but sometimes he just doesn't think.

Quinn: I've got one you can't guess.
Me: Is it alive?
Quinn: No.
Me: Does it have wheels?
Quinn: No.
Me: Does it move?
Quinn: Yes.
Me: Is it in our neighborhood?
Quinn: No.
Me: Do we pass it on the way to school?
Quinn: No.
Me: Can you get in it?
Quinn: No
Me: Do people that work use it?
Quinn: Yes.
....[After using up all my questions]...
Me: I give up, what is it.
Quinn: A garage.
Me: Wait, that's in our neighborhood and we pass lots of them going to school.
Quinn: Oh yea.
Me: And how does that move?
Quinn: The door opens.
Me: And I thought you said people can't get in it.
Quinn: I told you it was a hard one.
Me: That you did.

2 comments:

BullBunky said...

Oh, we need more of these gems :)

Although I'm curious how this speeds up eating at dinner.

JamesF said...

Bullbunky: Although I'm curious how this speeds up eating at dinner.

If they're guessing I won't answer their question until they take a bite. If I'm guessing I won't make another guess until they take a bite. So far it works pretty well. The only issue is it comes very close to Ginger's rule of no playing at the table (since it could be considered a game).