The Importance of Family Game Night

I love games. Board games, card games, charades, you name it. I love games because my family loves games. I love them because they bring back memories of playing with my mom and my sister on snow days.

We played games all the time as kids. We had to follow the rules too. My mom never let us skip ahead to slide down the chutes, no matter how close we landed. She didn’t steer us away from the Old Maid card. She definitely didn’t let me return to the game after I incorrectly suggested it was Miss Scarlet with the candlestick in the conservatory. As a child, it was rough; but as an adult, I couldn’t be more thankful. I learned from an early age that winning was much more satisfying when I won “fair and square.” I pursued fully understanding each game and its rules because I knew there wouldn’t be an easy way out. Strategy was my best friend.

While this method definitely contributed to my competitive nature, it also contributed to cultivating my problem solving skills, my determination, and my ability to look five steps ahead. There’s a joke in my family that when we play Monopoly with my Uncle Stephen, he goes after “the women and children first.” This isn’t necessarily true, but the point is, there was never any grace given if you were new or inexperienced. We laugh and joke and it was definitely rough when we went bankrupt, but I’m so thankful now.

There aren’t any shortcuts in life. Once in a while you may catch a break and be able to slide down life’s chutes instead of climbing its ladders, but that’s the exception, not the rule. As discouraging as it was to mortgage my last property, pick the Old Maid, or watch my mom reach the Candy Castle first, those moments taught me some valuable life lessons. I learned how to wait my turn, how to function on a team and how to make tough choices. I persevered, strategized, and practiced being a good sport. More importantly, I learned all of these valuable life lessons while building tight bonds with my family. The trust I have in my sister was undeniably strengthened through years of working together in order to build our five card sequence, get the most points in Pictionary or more importantly, beat our parents. Friends still hesitate to play Taboo with us because of our mind-reading abilities.

I’m so grateful that in the moments where my mom could have let me win (or at the very least let me bypass Lord Licorice), she didn’t. She could have relieved me of temporary frustration or sadness but in doing so, she would have robbed me of the opportunity to feel the accomplishment of successfully and honorably achieving checkmate. I learned to be a good sport and found new determination to work harder next time.

I learned to accept that sometimes life hands you a Queen of Spades, but with a lot of strategy and a little luck, you might just shoot the moon.

New Adventures in Blogging

I am not a good "journal-er." My room is full of notebooks from all ages with only a few entries. The thing is, I've always loved the idea of keeping a journal. I romanticize the notion, thinking about the journal providing me the opportunity to look back on my life and see my struggles, adventures, and personal growth. I think about grandchildren reading my journals and seeing their grandmother in a different light. The way things are going, my grandchildren will be very disappointed. 

I always start with good intentions - I walk around bookstores looking for beautiful journals to start a new adventure cataloging my thoughts. When I find the perfect one, I return home, write down a few entries for a few weeks and then leave the journal feeling lonely. Part of my inability to keep a journal is making time to write, the other parts are my own convictions that I'm not a great writer and that I don't think I have much to say. 

As I've grown and technology has become more a part of our world, I've been introduced to blogging. Blogging as I originally saw it, is a very public journal; a way to tell people what you think and how you feel. I felt like if I were to blog, I would need to have all the answers to the questions I write about. 

When I was in my undergrad, I took a journalism class as an elective and really enjoyed it. The class inspired me to create this blog and showed me how I may have something to say. It wasn't, however, enough to keep me from feeling as though I didn't have the "right" to say something in a public forum. It felt egotistical to put my thoughts out there presuming people would want to read them. 

What's interesting is: I've had friends who blog and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading their posts. I often search specifically for blog entries when looking up a new recipe or planning a lesson. Whether it is a mommy blog or a political blog, I enjoy reading what others have to say and the thoughts their words cultivate in me. Never once did I feel they were being presumptuous and egotistical in putting their thoughts on the internet.

In the past year, I have been working on my Master's in Education. One of the classes required for all graduate students at my college, regardless of their concentration, is a technology class. I started the class last week as a part of the summer semester and thus far it seems as though the focus is will showing us how to use technology to our advantage in the classroom and what cool programs/ apps/ etc are available to us. Before the first day of class, we had some homework to do (welcome to grad school) and one of the requirements was to read a blog entitled "Why Teachers Should Blog." 

I was a bit apprehensive but intrigued by the title. I've already accepted the value of a class website and plan to have one when I have my own classroom, but a blog too? Ugh. Through my already critical eyes, I began to read. 

"I've never been too big on Descartes."

My journalism teacher would commend the author, Shelly Blake-Plock, on beginning with a personal statement meant to draw the reader in. I, however, was wondering what a post on why teachers should blog would start with Descartes. Was the author trying to prove that he was smart enough to have a blog? What is the connection? Though still resistant, I continued.

He began to prove his disagreement with Descartes' philosophy that things exist because they have a fundamental essence using blogs. He adds there is not any "substantial qualitative definition of a blog. Blogs, or rather blogging platforms, just exist."

Interesting. I see the connection, and begin to warm up to the post.

He continues with: "The quality or essence of a blog is given meaning only via what the author does with the blog and how the blog is responded to."

Hmm. I've always viewed blogging as something in which the author develops a post and then puts her thoughts on the internet but perhaps blogging is more than that. It's not just a platform to share your ideas, but a tool that can be used to start a conversation. I am embarrassed as a thespian and teacher that I didn't make this connection earlier and on my own.

As a director, when thinking about putting on a musical or a play, I always consider the role of the audience. Theatre doesn't just entertain but also provides a cathartic experience for its audience members. At the very least, it should encourage them to reflect on the questions asked during the show and how they feel about them. As a teacher, considering the members of the class when planning a lesson or curriculum is a core necessity. So why didn't I make this connection? A blog doesn't have to be someone sharing their perfected, accurate thoughts. It can be a conversation starter where the author instead, shares her thoughts and poses questions and encourages response, or even better, criticism. The challenging of our beliefs by our peers is what strengthens them, or provides us with the opportunity to rethink them.

I get it. I finally get it.

Blake-Plock adds that "real maturity is not about having the right answers, it's about having the audacity to have the wrong answers and re-address them in light of contemplation, self-argument, and experience."

I couldn't agree more.

And so, in pursuit of learning, I have made it my goal to blog. I think it only makes sense to begin by adding to a blog I started a few years ago as a reminder not to let its abandonment happen again. I will try my hardest to share my imperfect thoughts, not because I think they deserve to be heard, but in order to start conversation. I vow not to be afraid of my writing skills and to make time for it. This blog will not end up like the dusty, empty journals in my bedroom. My grandchildren depend on it. ;)




Here is a link to that fabulous article.