[Diana H.]

I had a co-worker (male) who told me that when he came home from school, all the way through his teen years even, his mom would have a snack for him and would have a puzzle going on the table where he ate his snack. He would sit down with her to eat his snack and would begin working on the puzzle with her. This freed him up to talk with her--it's a relaxing activity (at least for some people), and he can look at the puzzle rather than looking at her in the eyes if it was a stressful topic. He said that it really helped them to be able to communicate throughout his growing up years. My son (the clothes chewer!) loves puzzles, so I'd like to start doing this with him.