HOW-TO: MAKE JENGA THERAPY

It may not be easy to say to your family, "Hey let's have a game night!" especially if you are already playing games with each others minds, ifyaknowhati'msayin'. You are the mother that can't get your kids to listen, you are the father that feels like a 24/7 ATM, you're the kid that feels like you are neglected and yet you really don't want attention either.

What are your issues? 

So once you've jotted down some ideas, here comes the fun part. Taking a new or used simple game of Jenga, we are going to literally be using these as the building blocks of your relationship. On these tiles you'll write 1) positive things to say about the other people 2) extraction words to get members to speak about their feelings and 3) fun activities as a buffer to some of the more serious dialogue. I use Fortnite as a good example because all the kids these days know the dance moves so if you have to peel your teenagers off of a game you can at least incorporate their obsession in this game. Write on a few of the blocks "Hype", "Orange Justice" or "Default dance" and get them engaging by showing you the moves. Believe me, they seem to be hypnotized to do these on command. Some of your more vocal blocks might include words or phrases like "What bothers you?" or "I don't like it when _____". Then you will also do positivity blocks such as "Name a good quality about _______." In this game it is against the rules to react to what one person says unless you get the "Freak Out" tile and then you can let loose. 

The key to this game is to see if you can actually build a tower before someone physically punches it with their bare hands. If the tower falls on it's own, feel free to make up a cheese ball metaphor about how when you don't use communication effectively and their are gaps, the whole structure crumbles or some shit like that. 

I made our game out of nail polish and a permanent marker.

*NOT suggested as a drinking game