RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34046, 9 January 1976, Page 11

RANDOM REMINDER

SUMMER GAMES

Despite the economic crisis there must still be a few people in the country who propose to take their families on holiday this summer, using their motor-cars for transport. Those who do so will run into the ever-present problem of how to keep the children amused. Games are the answer. *‘l Spy” is a durable standby, and a game we invented ourselves which involves shouting “Knickers” at every fourth telegraph pole seems to delight children although it very quickly becomes tedious for adults. The secret is to devise a game which amuses the children but at the same time benefits the adults. Here are a few which our Travelling-In- Motor-Cars-With-Children Correspondent has collected: Spot the Traffic Officer. This is a very \imple game involving no more

than the award of numerous ice creams to any child alert enough to spot a traffic officer before the driver. Spot the Hun in the Sun, or Spot the Other Traffic Officer. This is the same as the first game, except that it is designed to protect the driver against the risks posed by traffic officers working in apris. one acting as a decoy to lull drtvers into a false sense of security while the other prepares to pounce. Seeing Who Can Eat the Fewest Ice Creams on the Journey. Children are not stupid and usually refuse to play this game. Even when they do play it they quickly tire of it. Using the Binomial Theory to Solve Complex Equations. The trouble with this game is that by the time the children are old enough to play it

they are no longer children. Fighting and Squabbling in the Back Seat- This is the game most popular with children and least so with adults. It also forms the end play of all the other games. If games don't work, then open cash bribes can be very successful, since most children will be amused for hours by a two-dollar hill which is theirs to spend But of course, bribes are bad for the childrens’ character. So, unfortunately are threats, although there is no doubt that the basic threat “If you don't keep quiet we’ll turn round and go home”—is highly effective. Perhaps the only answer is not to take the children on holiday unless you have a car big enough to accommodate and an income large enough to pay for a nanny.