photo by Mark Strozier

During my first year of marriage, I decided to cancel cable television. My husband and I were busy, and television was an added expense that we couldn’t justify when we had financial goals we wanted to meet. We lived television-free for two years and didn’t miss it. As our family began to grow, we had cable reinstalled. Like many children, mine watched a couple of their favorite shows almost every day.

After seeing the influence that programs and commercials had on my children, I began searching for ways to cut back, especially during the summer. Family reading helped a lot, and as my kids grew older, we started family game night.

My oldest two children are three years apart in age, so finding games suitable for both was difficult at first. I struggled after the third game of CandyLand in one night, but I found creative ways to play until they were ready to put the games away. My husband and I decided to tag team. I’d play a board game once with our daughter while he played a board game with our son. Then we’d switch. Before long, both children were old enough to play some of the same games, so we’d all play together.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Hasbro had created express versions of Monopoly, Sorry, The Game of Life and Scrabble. Apparently, research has found that parents and children don’t have time to play the full versions. I understand busy lives, I really do, but these games have been revamped.

What’s wrong with that? It reveals how some families are micromanaging the time they spend with their children. They’re imposing a time limit of about 20 minutes for family game fun, and some game manufacturers are embracing the trend. I truly do understand that board games are competing against technology. I admire their innovation. They are simply filling a demand. I’m just sad that the demand is so high.

Parents are off the hook from spending time explaining a game to their children and actually playing it out. A quick game together is better than no game at all, but it’s a very sad thing. Board games are a time to slow down and hop off the train. I don’t want to speed these moments up. Some claim it’s the kids who don’t have the attention span for them anymore. From where do you suppose that stems?

Our family game night is about quality time connecting and nurturing our relationships. I want my children to have lasting memories of the time we spend together.

Do we really want to speed up the lessons in perserverance, cooperation and choices that family game times offer? Isn’t the point of playing games with our children so we can interact? I’m not suggesting that the fast versions won’t help foster well-adjusted kids. But I’ll keep the traditional versions and make time for what matters. And don’t even get me started on the phasing out of the cash based game to one with electronic banking and Visa cards.

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