Today was a very laid back sort of day.

The youngest one may have needed some extra sleep because he slept until nearly noon! Remember when, as a teenager, you could do that? Yeah me too! I could sleep all day and not have a bit of trouble doing it.

As I’ve matured (that’s my new way of saying getting older) my body laughs at me when I try to sleep past 6:30!  🙂

The oldest was up early, well early for him, and spent most of the day watching the old YouTube videos. I was okay with that; He’s been working a lot and probably needed the down time.

Sleeping in and YouTube just a few of their favorite things, but we have others too.

One of the many things our family loves to do is play board games; as a matter of fact, games are on our summer list several times.

We like many of the games I played as a kid. We have Monopoly, Life, and Scrabble (remember those?)

Well for today’s activity, the ol’ spinner ended up pointing to Sorry! Hooray!! Board Game!

You remember don’t you? The game where you draw cards and switch places with your opponents and occasionally draw the “sorry” card where you put someone back to start! That’s so gratifying sometimes (is that wrong?)

Yeah, that’s the one we played.

I’m sure you also remember a few days ago in my post about the writing contest, I told you I’m not one to throw a game so my kids can win; well guess who won? That’s right, good ol’ mom!! Woot! Woot!

It was a terrific way to spend part of the day.We laughed and carried on and there’s nothing better than bonding with each other.

More importantly for me, I think Sorry teaches some pretty important life lessons to teens, beyond winning and losing.

1.  Life is Unpredictable: Sorry brings about some pretty unpredictable things. Your game token may be nearly to the safe zone and BAM all of a sudden someone draws a switch places card and your piece is suddenly back to start. Life can be like that. You can be tooling along and everything’s going smoothly. You’re feeling like you’re going to make it, win if you will, when BAM something happens and you have to back up and figure out what to do next. Things happen in life which put us in places we never imagined we’d be. Teens are especially in need of understanding things don’t always go as planned.
2. How to Make Better Choices: Sorry has several cards which give you two options and you get to choose which one you believe will help you get your token home. Life is all about making choices. Sometimes they’re easy choices, other times not so much. While trying to decide if you’re going to move one pawn 7 or divide the move between two pawns isn’t really a great big deal; learning to make choices in your best interest is a terrific life skill. There are always going to be choices in life and learning to make better choices can only be a benefit.
3.  Compassion: Sorry gives us the opportunity to ‘go after’ our opponents through trading places with them or perhaps setting them back to start. These moves are done for personal gain as they may place you closer to your safe zone and eventually to winning the game. While this is only a game, these types of moves can help teens be aware of how others around them are experiencing what is happening. While it’s okay to want to get ‘ahead’ in life we need to be aware of others we may be placing back at start as we do so. Teens can be so wrapped in what’s happening in their own lives they forget to notice others around them.
4. Looking Ahead: As you’re waiting to take your turn, odds are you’re thinking about what card you need to draw to get your pawn safely to home. You’re also thinking about who you might want to trade places with or put back to start so you can take their spot on the board. This is a great skill to have in life. Learning to enjoy and be in the moment, but also knowing how to look ahead for what may come. What a great life skill to teach our teens who typically can’t see past the end of their noses. Learning to look ahead, just a little ways, gives us the opportunity to have some sort of idea where we may want to go next; how we may want to spend that next paycheck, etc.. Teens are experts at getting caught up in the moment. So much so they forget their actions may later have consequences, so learning to look ahead is a great skill to learn.

 

So the next time your teen is giving you fits of frustration because they can’t see beyond the end of their noses, are being self focused, or don’t seem to have a plan, just grab the old Sorry game and let em learn without even knowing!! (tee hee hee….I love being a parent and sneaking in learning where they least expect it)

What are your family’s favorite board games?

♥ See You Tomorrow ♥