We just celebrated one of our favorite "annual-ish" traditions of the Sibshop year! Sibshoppers were asked to bring at least one parent/adult to play with them at this months Sibshop. We love the opportunity to show these parents what Sibshops is all about!
While the Sibshoppers and their parents worked on creating their masterpieces, we shared our Sibshop Rules and Consequences with everyone. Rule #1.) Have FUN! #2.) Be Nice #3.) Be Respectful
#4.) Keep It Confidential! Everyone agreed to keep the rules so we wouldn't need to use any the consequences!
Everyone got in on the action during a fun game of "Four Corners!" You race as quietly and swiftly as you can to find a "safe" corner to land in. If your corner is picked by the person who is "It" you are out for that round. Some Sibshoppers can be pretty sneaky, but the parents kept winning this one!
You can run and you can try to hide, but you are almost guaranteed to get "Out" at least once in a few rounds.
One of our traditional discussion activities is called "Strengths and Weaknesses." This activity involves interviewing another person about their own strengths and weakness and the strengths and weaknesses of their sib with special needs. It provides an opportunity to understand that we all have things we are good at as well as things that are harder for us. This time around the kids got to interview their parent and all family members got to share about themselves and hear from one another what they perceive about the child with special needs.
We took a risk and tried out a new active game for the very first time. And get this? It was a hit! Hooray! The game is called "Clothespins". You start with a handful of clothespins attached to your sleeves and then in the next two minutes you try and steal as many clothespins off of other players as you can and attach them to your own sleeves. Whoever has the most clothespins when time is called is the big winner. It was really, really fun! A total keeper!
After our rousing game of clothespins, it was time to settle in for another fun discussion activity. You get to eat candy when you participate, so it is definitely motivating. In "The M&M Game" you get to eat all of one color of M&Ms in you cup when you answer the same color coded question. We ask quick and easy questions like "What is your favorite movie of all time?" and other more introspective questions like "Do your parents treat you differently than your sib with special needs?" and "Is there a time you have been proud of your sib?" Kids and parents were willing to share and got to eat a load of yummy chocolate candy!
Then again, we were up and at em'! An all time Sibshopper favorite is "Shrinking Islands." Very similar to musical chairs, you have to find an island to land on when the music stops. You can share the island with others as long as you are accommodating, but watch out, as the game progresses, the islands start to disappear!
After watching a video of 2012 Sibshops, the kids remembered one of their favorite games was "Snowball Fight!" We played a few rounds at the end of our Sibshop and peltered one another with paper snowballs.
"Ready, Aim....FIRE!"
We wrapped up Sibshops by asking each parent to share something sweet about each of their Sibshoppers in attendance. Sure sounds like these parents love and appreciate their awesome kids. We love them too! We had a great time at the Parent/Child Sibshop!
