Qualities Kids can Develop through Board Games – Part 1

Lately I’ve been thinking about my childhood and the time I spent playing board games with my parents and siblings. At that young age I was not cognizant of it, but now that I have been playing board games with my own kids for many years now, I realize that there are many qualities and values that kids can learn through board games. To keep these blog posts short, I will mention a few in this post and a few in my next post.

Patience:
We started playing board games with our kids when they were very young. One of the first things that young kids learn from board games is how to wait their turn. This may seem like a simple concept, but for very young kids this is a hard thing to do. Learning to patiently wait their turn is a big step for them.
 
Accepting Failure and Learning from it:
This is another one that’s hard for younger kids (although some adults can struggle with it too)! There may be tears at first, but over time kids will come to learn a hard fact about life: that “you can’t always win”. Parents can help their kids to accept losing with dignity and grace, and also help them to consider which aspects of their strategy and game play they can improve on for next time.
 
Delayed Gratification:
Should you take that action now or wait until later? Kids, by nature, want things “now”! Learning to resist that urge to reap a small benefit now in order to receive a larger benefit later is a great lesson that has ramifications in many other areas of life.
 
More to come in the next post…

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