It’s often said that the family that prays together, stays the together. Can the same be said of the family that plays together? Organizers of the Million Minute Family Challenge think so. As busy parents we often feel we don’t have enough hours in the day to spend with our families. If we set our priorities though, we can do it.
One way is by playing board games. As the mother of a young child, playing board games and games in general is a routine part of our daily activities. To Tyler, our game time is fun time and a way to spend time with me but what he does not realize is board games are not just child’s play. According to organizers of the Million Minute Family Challenge, they are also an excellent way to teach lessons in sharing and communication, helps players develop social skills such as following rules, fair play and good sportsmanship. Board games can also sharpen vocabulary, reading, math , creative writing and thinking skills. Can you block out 20 minutes of your busy schedule to play a board game? If so, then you should take part in the challenge.
This grassroots effort’s goal is to have at least 1,000 families or groups in each of the 50 states commit to playing a board games together for at least 20 minutes from September through December. In 2005, participants exceeded this goal logging in a total of 1,004,294 minutes. California logged the most minutes with 157,458. In addition to individual families, boy and girl scout troops, schools, learning centers, libraries, and many other groups participated in the challenge.
Interested in getting involved for the 2006 challenge? Log on to the Million Minute family Challenge site to sign up. At the site you can find out more about the program’s goals, see who participated last year and how they fared, plus much more information for parents, organizers and teachers. I signed up today. If you want to see how Tyler and I are doing our group name is The Doodlebops.