During COVID we were pressed to find ways to entertain our then 8-year-old during the long winter days, and I had generally resorted to coming up with a list of possible things that we could do in the house.  This included things like cooking, drawing a comic book, or even doing chores (yes I was a bit think with the ideas).  One of the activities though that stuck well after COVID is a board game night.  I heard about this from many families and even groups of adult friends, but not until COVID did we take it seriously and actually create a system around it. 

The three of us (the 4 of us once our little one grew old enough) would take turns picking a board game to play on Mondays, the choice rotated from youngest to oldest.  The winner of the game would choose either a movie or a takeout option for the following Friday, the second place would choose the leftover (i.e. whatever the winner did not pick from a movie or food option).  This covered both our Mondays and Fridays, shared the decision-making for food on Fridays, and sorted our movie night out as well. 

This was a great bonding experience, and in some cases showed how competitive we can be as a family as well.  It also provided opportunities for our kids, and the adults, to be gracious losers when the time came.  The decision-making component too is a great confidence booster – we see this more now that our younger one is involved in this as well.  Given the cost, we cut back on the second-place winner (i.e. only the winner would pick either the movie or the food).  However, in most cases, we all know that if someone picks takeout, we are more than likely to watch a movie with it.  At least that is seen as a bonus rather than a given.

It also forces us to play games we wouldn’t otherwise pick and watch movies we wouldn’t otherwise watch.  This is because the person choosing has full control and their choice is sacred, no matter how much my wife hates watching silly movies about cartoon sequels, if my son chooses that – tough!  No matter how many times I get sick of playing the game of life, if it gets chosen – tough!

It is hard to keep the momentum going, my son would love to play on his computer all day, and my wife is usually tired by the time the board game night rolls around.  But as a designated keeper/dictator of the household, come hell or high water I make sure we do it (except for when we travel of course, or in certain emergencies).  Otherwise, that tradition would have derailed a long time ago.

That level of consistency is needed to make sure that the tradition continues, and I find now that our youngest is included it gives the kids a high sense of belonging.  This is a step down from family dinner nights, which we should definitely be doing more of, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.  Given that we have a good decade and a half before our oldest goes to University (maybe) – this tie is precious.  I actually found that he goes around bragging to his friends about it too, especially when he beats his old man in the odd game – which happens very rarely I might add!