Malt-O-Meal Feeds » family game night http://www.malt-o-meal.com/feeds Malt-O-Meal and related Cereal Blog Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:51:26 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 50 Reasons to Start a Family Game Night http://www.malt-o-meal.com/feeds/2009/02/04/50-reasons-to-start-a-family-game-night/ http://www.malt-o-meal.com/feeds/2009/02/04/50-reasons-to-start-a-family-game-night/#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:09:05 +0000 Shana Albert http://www.malt-o-meal.com/feeds/?p=999 Our lives are super busy today. Parents tend to work long hours and in most households both parents have to work outside the home. Parents have to come home from a stressful day of work and help their kids with homework, make dinners, take their children to after school activities, bathe the children and put them to bed. After the children go to bed this is the first chance that many parents have had a chance to unwind.

Kids lives are not much easier. They have a busy day at school, come home to homework and after school activities. What little extra time they have before bed they like to get a little bit of fun which tends to be with video games and computers.

Technology doesn’t necessarily work in our favor for quality time with the kids as the things that make our lives easier also take our time away from each other. Cell phones, computers,texting, emails and the rest of the outside world tends to sabotage our precious family time.

I’m here to show you how a weekly Family Game Night can bring your family back together. Dedicating an entire night to your children is an easy and inexpensive way to enjoy time with your children. So without further ado…

50 Reasons to Start a Family Game Night

Academic Benefits of a Family Game Night

Here are some wonderful things playing games with your children can teach them:

  1. Math Skills
  2. Vocabulary
  3. Colors
  4. Strategy
  5. Problem Solving
  6. Money Skills
  7. Hand / Eye Coordination
  8. Counting
  9. Shapes
  10. Deductive Reasoning Skills
  11. Sorting Skills
  12. Reading Skills
  13. Logic
  14. Taking Notices
  15. Spelling

Social & Mental Benefits of a Family Game Night

And, there are also Mental and Social Skills that Family Games can help with:

  1. Healthy Competition and Sportsmanship
  2. Communication
  3. Cooperation
  4. Teamwork
  5. Patience
  6. Learning to accept the consequences of their choices
  7. Following Rules
  8. Honesty
  9. Taking Turns
  10. Perseverance
  11. Healthy Family Relationships
  12. Heart-to-Heart Talks – Over time the children will realize that this time is devoted to them. This realization will bring on natural openness and heart-to-heart talks.
  13. Learn how to “turn off” the outside world.
  14. Self Confidence
  15. Concentration
  16. Stress Relief
  17. Sense of Belonging
  18. Sharpen minds…. good for adult health too.
  19. Create Memories
  20. Higher Self Esteem

The Other Benefits of a Family Game Night

  1. Family Fun
  2. Family Bonding
  3. Family Smiles
  4. Family Laughter
  5. Improvisation – Acting and Speaking Skills
  6. Adventures
  7. Silliness
  8. Quality time…. before you know it the kids will be out of the house.
  9. Games takes the pressure off of having to “force” conversation
  10. Brings the family closer together
  11. Creates a Family Tradition – Weekly / monthly family game nights cause anticipation and excitement gaining up to the family game night….. this is something the kids can count on.
  12. A way to improve your relationship with your children.
  13. Face-to-Face Family Time – No staring into a TV or Computer Screen.
  14. Life Learning Lessons
  15. Brings back “Old School” form of entertainment.

Grabbing a deck of cards and playing Crazy Eights or a simple game of Charades with the entire family for one evening a week will not only bring on tons of joy and laughter, but it is bound to start conversations and memories that will last a lifetime.

Keep an eye out for a future post on Family Game Night. I will get into more details on the specifics of Family Game Night. Such as….

  • What games should be played
  • How to include all family members…. from the youngest to the oldest.
  • How long should it be
  • Example of a Family Game Night


Photo by Windy Angels

*I am not child psychologist/child development expert, but the above opinions come from my experiences  from being a mother.

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