Have fun
We tell the child we are going to have fun, and mean something completely different from what the child hears. For them, fun might mean undisturbed time with one specific toy, not the festive activity we have planned. The visual support below shows different ways to have fun.
♂Boy jumping with confetti
A happy boy is jumping with arms raised and confetti all around him.
♂Boy cheering with confetti
A happy boy is cheering with arms raised and confetti all around him.
About this visual support
The phrase having fun is invisibly wide. When an adult says it, whole categories are folded in: floor play, outdoor adventure, party with cake, chatting with siblings. The child hears the word and tries to match it against something in their own mind, but does not always find the same picture the adult is holding up. That is where the expectation clash begins.
Visual support lets us make the abstraction concrete before the situation starts. You and the child look at the cards together and point out what is actually meant: dancing fun, building-something fun, or just-being-on-the-sofa fun. That short moment of specifying saves a lot of friction later, because the disappointment over mismatched expectations never gets a chance to form.
A useful move: let the child choose two cards showing what counts as fun for them today. It gives a sense of being co-creator and at the same time gives you information you can actually use. The Routined app lets you save those choices as small sequences, so you can return to them next time.