Old School Fun – Boardgames

In this 21st century, where kids have become addicted to technology, I felt it was time to step back and take my kids into the world of old school ways. Technology is a good thing, but at some point in life, I do not want it to take over my kids life. I want my kids to be in charge of technology.

You all can agree that a  2 year old or younger, might not be performing on their major milestone like speaking, but they can easily navigate through an iPad or phone, go on YouTube and select their song. That is just the younger ones. The little older ones seem lost without technology. They get bored very easily if they are not on their iPad or any other device. I saw that happening with my kids a lot. Every time, I took their phones away, they were bored and did not interact with each other despite having toys and other tools. I can go on and on about technology, but will leave that for another day.

So, I thought why not introduce them to the fun and the ways I grew up with. I decided to go out and buy two board games for them. Board games are a great way of interaction and a great learning tool. I bet you remember monopoly, twister, scrabble…and many more. I used to love playing monopoly as a kid and I remember playing it in the wee hours of morning with friends and family during vacation.

So two weeks ago, on a Friday night, after dinner, the kids and I sat down for their very first monopoly games. As I explained the rules, they listened intently and then they picked their character. (Did you know they had monopoly for kids – super kid friendly!)

So the dice began rolling, and characters began moving.

“Mama, do I buy this one.” said Aria.

“Yes, you can.” I replied. “It is 2 dollars.”

“Wait, so I have to give two of my money. No I do not want it then. I will waste my money.” said Aria after pondering a bit.

“Yeah, don’t buy it didi (sister).” commented Kiara.

I could not help but start laughing at this cute comment.

Also, their favorite part became when anyone landed in jail. Their cousin, Sanaya, earned the knack of landing in jail. Every time she landed in jail, the kids screamed ‘Again!’ and Sanaya would start bursting out in laughter and rolling over. She must have landed atleast 7 times in one game.

It was close to 11 pm and I told them to go to sleep, but since they just got the hang of it, they wanted to play another round. So, I let them play by themselves. Aarav, being the eldest, decided to be the leader and banker. Now, when they have nothing to do, they open monopoly and start playing.

As a family, I was bonding more with my kids, they were interacting with each other, helping each other understand the game. More so, now they take turns being bankers. So I see it as a math booster – it helps them with addition, subtraction, and counting. The game also teaches them to think critically, manage money, make decision to buy a house or not. For kids a game is a game, but you could hear laughter, joking and joyful screaming when they won something.

As this venture with the kids turned out a success, I decided to buy scrabble and twister for them.