Our Story

The Family Spinner started when our co-founder, Ilana’s, son was five years old and was having trouble communicating with his parents. To help get conversation and communication flowing, Ilana created a makeshift spinner with prompts so that she could teach her son how to talk to them at dinnertime. And it worked! Not only did he learn how to open up to his parents, he became interested in and enjoyed hearing what they were doing in their days.

We all know that having conversations is protective for children and important to their development and the family dynamic. Having family dinner together and talking to each other holds a whole host of benefits for children including higher self esteem, better academic performance, and lower risk of depression. Communicating your victories, challenges, and low points as well as listening to those of others is healthy, and having conversations about dealing with these issues is so important.

Seeing how well this game worked in her household, Ilana decided it was time to see if other families could benefit from The Family Spinner. Now, hundreds of families are learning how to have “real conversations” with each other, share their experiences and feelings, and learn from each other.