Family Fun (or solo feat)

Can you name all 192 member states of the United Nations in ten minutes? Even more of a challenge, can you type them, spelled correctly, in ten minutes? Try here.

My sons and I have set ourselves the goal of achieving this feat by the end of the summer. We only allow ourselves one attempt per day, since clearly repeating the exercise immediately after seeing the answers would not be cricket. Maxwell types. Luke and I have assigned ourselves particular countries to remember – my latest fixation is Sao Tome and Principe, now that I have Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Saint Lucia, down pat.

We started playing a couple of weeks ago, and our last effort left 36 countries on the “oh-my-we-forgot-that-again” list. Actually some of those 36 are more a “really-there’s-a-country-named-that?” list, even after a dozen or so attempts, but no matter. Our strategy has been to start by doing each continent, then going back to go for clean-up, but we may try a different tactic with the next attempt. As Luke said last night, it’s not like we’re going to forget the United States or United Kingdom. Famous last words? We’ll see.

The real benefit is that ten minutes are devoted to doing something together, which some days is the only quality time my independent nearly-22 and 20 year-old sons spend with their way-too-busy mother. And, for me, ten minutes to think about something other than the things I think about for the other 23 hours 50 minutes in a day, even in my sleep.

Try it – the challenge will give your brain a work-out.