Episode 419 – Teaching Board Game Manners

How do you teach kids to play games “nicely”? To respect the rules of the game? 0:00:00 Fact for 419 419 scams (https://www.hbs.net/blog/419-scams-sporting-fun-you-want-to-avoid) (AKA Nigerian prince scams) Sponsor Message Did you know there’s a U.S. Law that allows every American to check their credit reports with each of the three major credit bureaus each year, for free? You don’t have to sign up for a service or pay a monthly fee, just go to annualcreditreport.com (https://annualcreditreport.com) . First Move has a blog post about how to read your credit reports (https://www.firstmovefinancial.com/whats-in-your-credit/) . If you’re overwhelmed by debt hiring a financial advisor may not be right for you, but First Move is still happy to have a 15 minute phone call to get you going in the right direction and point you toward free resources. Go to firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers (https://firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers) to set up a time to chat today. 0:04:10 What We’ve Been Playing Scurry Up! * Verdant Arizona (our review (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/verdant-arizona/) ) Lands of Amazement (our review (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/lands-of-amazement/) ) Aspens S’mores Galore Roast and Write Cabanga! (our review (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/cabanga/) ) Trio (our review (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/trio/) ) Flip 7 (our review (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/flip-7/) ) Person Do Thing (our review (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/person-do-thing/) ) Adventurous * Unmatched: Stars and Stripes * Jekyll vs. Hyde (our review (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/jekyll-vs-hyde/) ) Got Five! * * = First time on the podcast 0:26:20 March Monthly Report Andrew: 10 plays of 8 games. H-index: 2 (Flip 7, Aspens) Anitra: 31 plays of 12 games. H-index: 3 (almost every game was played at least 3 times…) Most played: Aspens, Lands of Amazement Did you check out our March Madness extra reviews (https://thefamilygamers.com/review) ? 0:29:00 The Family Gamers Community We’re so glad you’re here! (https://www.facebook.com/groups/familygamersaa/posts/4350923171863806) 0:29:50 #Backtalk You shared your escape room experiences on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/familygamersaa/posts/4331332627156194) and the #backtalk channel (https://discord.com/channels/1157003438425653379/1239323617368604672) of the Discord. FOR SCIENCE! “Tacos in Pasta Shells” recipe, contributed by Discord member Sms137355. 0:44:30 Board Game Manners How do you teach manners to kids as they’re playing board games? How do you teach them to properly “play games” at all? Young kids HAVE to be taught to take turns (which extends to a lot more than just board games!) All the games in our list for three year olds (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/top-games-3-years/) are great for teaching this skill. Young kids also have to be taught the general idea of “following the rules”. One we forget is a skill: recognizing pieces/cards as markers for information, AKA “proxy permanence”. This is the distinction between “playing pretend” or following rules. You need to leave pieces in place to show your progress or status! You can help by providing a different piece to fidget with. That leads into a concept of shared ownership. Everyone is responsible for the pieces on the board. And that leads to respecting the components of the game. “Respecting components” means teaching a certain amount of gentleness: • Keep cards flat (don’t fold them). • Don’t jam cards into gaps or bend them. • Rolling dice without throwing them off the table. Use a dice tray, dice tower, or a cup for rolling if this is really challenging. Keeping cards (and other information) secret is a skill that is needed, but can be introduced more slowly. This is both a mental and physical skill. If they need help with the physical skill, that’s what card-holders are for! Being a gracious winner and loser (https://www.thefamilygamers.com/4-ways-sore-loser/) is the most important skill when playing with your peers. Unfortunately, this might be the hardest to teach. But it also helps in other areas of life! • Encourage empathy. (“How does that make you feel?” “How do you think it makes other people feel?”) • Prepare mentally before playing. (“This might happen. If it does, what will we do?”) • Model good behavior and talk it out. • As the adult, watch out for signs of discontent and/or gloating. Shut it down (or at least redirect) before it gets out of hand! Remember, gaming should be fun. If no one is having fun, you don’t have to keep going. Stop and try again another day! This respects your time (an...