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 The "Interactive" Advantage  Board games have a built in “interactive advantage” over their computer and video cousins. Electronic games have their action focused on a screen or monitor.
Board games, however, are placed in the middle of a group, allowing players to face each other, making communication and exchange easier. Players can look
one another in the eye and feel connected with their friends and neighbors.Board games can also bring members of different generations together. Favorite memories and tales are inevitably shared, helping to pass along rich family history to the next generation. Some families go so far as to make the board games themselves a tradition, as each year a new board game is given as a Christmas gift. According to a June 2010 article in The New York Times, much of the concern about cell phones and instant messaging and Twitter has been focused on how children who incessantly use the technology are affected by it. But parents’ use of such technology — and its effect on their offspring — is now becoming an equal source of concern to some child-development researchers. Sherry Turkle, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Initiative on Technology and Self, has been studying how parental use of technology affects children and young adults. After five years and 300 interviews, she has found that feelings of hurt, jealousy and competition are widespread. Do you find yourself more excited to check your Facebook and tell people what you are doing with your kids rather than just being in the moment and focused on your kids? Laura Scott Wade, the director of ethics for a national medical organization in Chicago, said that six months ago her son, Lincoln, then 3 1/2, got so tired of her promises to get off the computer in “just one more minute” that he resorted to the kind of tactic parents typically use. “He makes me set the timer on the microwave,” Ms. Wade said. “And when it dings he’ll say, ‘Come on,’ and he’ll say, ‘Don’t bring your phone.’ ” There is little research on how parents’ constant use of such technology affects children, but experts say there is no question that engaged parenting — talking and explaining things to children, and responding to their questions — remains the bedrock of early childhood learning. Meredith Sinclair, a mother and blogger in Wilmette, Ill., said she had no idea how what she calls her “addiction to e-mail and social media Web sites” was bothering her children until she established an e-mail and Internet ban between 4 and 8 p.m., and her children responded with glee. “When I told them, my 12-year-old, Maxwell, was like, ‘Yes!’ ” Ms. Sinclair said. To make your board game night successful make sure your TV is turned off, keep your cell phones and other gadgets in another room so you aren’t tempted to check them every minute. Listen and laugh with your group as you enjoy 20 minutes of quality time together. Back to Parents |
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