current Cardyologies Newsletter

Start a Family Game Night

Since our daughter is 3 1/2 years old, she is really learning to
love board games and we are having too much fun! About
every other night, believe it or not, I walk away from the
computer, we turn the TV off and have great family time together
playing games.

If you don’t already take time to play games, now is the time to
start because you can’t get these years back. Hasbro
introduced the official Family Game Night to help bring families
together with the fun interaction of games. They, along with the
National Parenting Center, encourage taking two hours each
week for this extremely valuable and really fun time.

Although it is called Family Game Night, you can still enjoy
game time even if you don’t have your own family!

- If you are married with no children or even if you are
dating, games are a great way to spend quality time together!
You will have the opportunity to play different kinds of board
games now than you will in the future if you have kids.

- If you are beyond the young family years, get together with
friends or with a family in the neighborhood.

- Or imagine how you could brighten the day of someone’s
grandparents by showing up with dominoes!

How exactly do you start a Family Game Night?

Here are some basic steps, which can get you started, but do
what works for your family. (I will refer to the players as family
members anyway, even though game nights can be enjoyed by
anyone - and not necessarily at night.)

1. Decide with everyone when the best time will be each week
to spend about two hours of fun together, whether it’s Thursday
evenings, Sunday afternoons or whenever. It may seem difficult
at first to fit this in your schedule, but you’ll have so much fun,
you may not want to wait a whole week to do it again.

2. Make sure you have a few games to choose from. If you
don’t have much of a selection already, maybe you can buy a
new game at least each month. Which games should you
choose? It depends on the players. You can find games based
on ages and interests at AreYouGame.com.

3. Keep everyone involved by letting each person take turns
choosing the game for that night. Maybe the youngest family
member can choose the game(s) the first night, then the second-
youngest can choose the next week, and so on. The more you
involve them and value their opinions, the more interested they
will be and the more fun everyone will have.

4. Refresh yourself by reading the rules before you start.
It's OK to have your own “house rules,” which might make the
game easier for the kiddies or just more enjoyable for you. If
you've lost the rules to your game, you can probably find and
print them from this web site: D'Antiques Links to Free
Replacement Game Rules

5. If there is a good time during or after a game, stop for a half-
time intermission and enjoy a small snack or at least a drink.
This would be better than eating while you play because
everyone can wash the food goo off their hands and the drinks
won’t have a chance to spill on your game.

6. Get to know your family better, escape from your hectic
schedule and have a blast!

Here are a few tips:

- Be patient with younger players. They have a shorter attention
span and may not have the ability to play complicated games.
Maybe you can team up the younger players with older ones,
letting the little ones be involved.

- Kids learn a lot from playing games, such as math,
vocabulary, respect for others, taking turns, strategy, record
keeping, deductive reasoning, money management, teamwork,
consequences and patience - and remember that they will also
be learning from your example.

- Don’t make winning the most important part of the game. Be a
good sport so the kids will be, too. Go ahead and do your own
little victory dance, which will probably crack everyone up.

- Play as if you are about the same level as the youngest
player. Give them a chance to win, but don’t let the little one win
every time. They will get a false sense of their abilities and won’t
know how to handle losing later.

So, escape life’s hustle-and-bustle while really connecting with
your family each week. You’ll wish you started this sooner!

I’d love to hear about your Family Game Nights! Please e-mail
me or join my Board Games Forum at BellaOnline (see left).