by Weiner Family Studios

Created on: August 14, 2010

We felt like terrible parents when waiting in line.  The kids would get jumpy and we ran out of things to do. Our usual routines were getting tired. So we started making a list of things to do while in line.  For example, counting the number of people who had black shoes or listing all the things we would be doing if we weren't standing in the line.

It felt silly at first but we found we started to really enjoy our time more wherever we were.  The list grew and grew and soon we had lists of things to do in restaurants, at the airport, wherever we had a few minutes to interact. No more dull "what did you do today" conversations.

For instance we would ask silly questions like "What would you name this restaurant?" but we also asked probing questions like "what makes a good friend?" We started including some fun games like guessing the waiters age and then seeing who was closest. We added activities to encourage thoughtfulness like "write a thank you not to our server". The combination of light topics relaxed everyone and got them engaged.  All of a sudden the probing questions seemed like fun and the kids started to really open up in ways that surprised us.

We started sharing our ideas with friends and family and they relayed similar stories how these ideas helped them.  It's funny how parents never like to admit they need some help but when they get it they sure our grateful. Other parents started coming up with some ideas too and they sent them to us and we began keeping track of them.

It became apparent there was a need out there and we decided as a family we would fill this need.  So our children worked with us to generate hundreds of ideas and we compiled them all.

The list grew so large we ended up putting the activities in an iPhone application called "A Family Matters". You can check it out at http://www.weinerfamilystudios.com/familymatters_itu nes.php

People tell us this is the only mobile application they let their children play at the dinner table, in fact they encourage them to use it. We feel great about this and hope to share it with as many people as we can.

And if you have any ideas we should add to the next version let us know!

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