An Offer I Can't Refuse

On weekday nights, my dinner table is often shared only by me and my youngest child.

As soon as we start eating, I am inevitably invited to play.

With a playful, "Let's play shiritori!"


Since we've been playing shiritori every day, the pace has become so fast that it's hard to eat, so I've started using a new strategy lately. That is, occasionally daring to use words I know they won't understand.

When an unknown word comes up, they always ask, "What's that?" While it's not ideal during a meal, if it's an animal, I show them a picture and explain, "It's this kind of animal." For example, if it's the name of a country, I'll say, "It's a country called so-and-so, just like America or Japan."


The other day, they said "Tamayo (from Demon Slayer)," so I replied with "Yoda," and as expected, they asked, "What's Yoda?"

When I told them, "He's a character from a movie," and showed them a picture, my son was hooked, saying, "Whoa, what is this! I've never met this person before!!"

Later, while watching E.T. that we had recorded, they even noticed the brief appearance of Yoda in the Halloween scene and said, "I bet they think they're friends."


I'm certainly not doing this for any grand reason like improving their vocabulary or enhancing their thinking skills, but it's interesting to realize that even a simple game of shiritori can be a learning experience for a child...

Even when I've been drinking and my brain isn't working well, or when I'm tired and it feels like a hassle, I guess I'll have to keep playing along with them from now on. 😇