With just a few weeks to go before school started, my three kids were beginning to show the inevitable signs of summer-sibling-strain: way too many squabbles going on with calls to mom or dad for reporting or resolution.

So we did the family meeting thing.  We started with the ”something has to change” parent speech. Alexandra, our youngest, suggested we needed a family game night.  We verbally patted her on the head and went on about our lecture-as-solution technique.   Persistent person that she is, Alexandra wouldn’t let go of her approach to world peace.  She continued to bring up her game night request.  Finally, wanting to honor her sincerity and enthusiasm and confidence, we agreed to her suggestion.

The Power of Play

It seems our daughter is wise beyond her years.  The experience of playing together truly did shift our family dynamics.  Alexandra’s instinct really brought home the wisdom I have heard seasoned specialty toy retailers tout every spring during their “turn off the TV week” promotions.  Board games really do foster communication and joy and build new skills.

One of those skills, we found, was our children’s creative use of adjectives to describe how lame they find their father.  Whatever.  A caring father is willing to be the fall guy for higher learning.

Good Dads

I started thinking about the difference between “being a good dad” by setting up the swing set vs. “being a good dad” by participating in a game.  Swing set assembly was important to the joy of my children when they were younger.  Game playing turned out to be joy for me!

My kids were tough on our first game night–but very entertaining.   I noticed the strain of minor fracases was replaced by laughter.   And that laughter shaped us beyond the hours of game playing.  Days later we were a kinder, gentler group!

I saw cognitive leaps as Sean made up his own rules, rules he was subtly crafting to leave me in the dust and to make us all laugh.  I discovered that overt and humor- filled “cheating” stretched all our brains and deposited priceless family lore in the memory banks.

I am the newly crowned Sorry World Champion.  I’m making them beg for a rematch.

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