Families That Play Together Stay Together, A Personal Life Experience!
Growing
up my parents made it clear that enjoying time with family
was very important! They didn't come out
and say it all the time and they didn't need to. They
did it with actions and as the saying goes, "Actions
Speak Louder Than Words". They did this by turning
their basement into a home game room. It was done before
I was born and games came and went all in the name of
good old fashioned family fun! Now I'm the last of 10
children, 8 boys and 2 girls and I tell you this, our
home game room worked wonders in keeping this family
close!
When I was young just about every weekend I remember my
brothers and sisters who weren't living at home anymore,
visiting. We'd play pool, pinball, pachinko, cards and
more all the while listening to golden oldies on the jukebox.
Before you start thinking we were rich, don't, we were
just a large middle class family. My dad worked very hard,
often seven days a week and made just enough money to keep
a roof over our heads and food in the fridge. My mom worked
even harder taking care of us! The home game room functioned
on it's own keeping us at home base on most weekend nights!
The games were all bought second hand and didn't work
when my parents acquired them. Luckily my dad and a few
of my brothers could fix them. That's how we ended up with
pinball games, a jukebox and an old bowling machine in
our basement. Those were some of the best times in my life.
Playing pool and games with my brothers and sisters into
the early hours of the next morning.
Of course not every moment was perfect. We had our fights.
Sometimes they were HUGE FIGHTS! But usually by the following
weekend things were back to normal and we'd play together
all night once again. On many nights we had to swallow
our pride!
Those games taught us many life lessons right in our own
home. They taught us about winning and losing graciously.
Although tempers flared at times someone would step in
and remind us that it's just a game. We learned that cheating
was wrong, especially with so many siblings watching over
the games. We were taught to respect adults and that they
would play first and we'd get our turn if we waited! Also
that helped us to learn patience. There were so many life
lessons learned in our game room that I'm probably only
touching on a fraction of them.
We had so many great times in that game room with family
and friends. On some nights you'd be the winner and others
you'd be the loser. It's the same as in life as an adult.
Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose but you have to
keep your head up and try harder the next time.
All
of those experiences made us become closer as a family.
We learned how to deal with the different personalities
of each family member and it's kept us close to this day.
No a home game room won't solve every problem in the world.
And it may not work for every family. But I firmly believe
that "Families That Play Together, Stay Together".
That is coming from my own life experience.
Home game rooms are good for another reason also. They
teach some great skills to children. From the hand-eye
coordination from playing pinball to the angles, cut/slice
shots and bank shots in pool. Those coordination skills
come in handy when you're older and are great to learn
as a kid. With pinball you learn how to count numbers and
keep score. In billiards alone you learn how to hold a
stick, aim and shoot the balls and rack them up afterwards.
Also for the youngest of children the pool balls are different
colors with different numbers. I've never seen a child
who didn't LOVE to sit on a pool table and roll the balls
into the pockets. (Just make sure you're watching the child
closely so they don't fall off). Every table game is good
for learning skills. That includes ping-pong, air hockey,
foosball and shuffleboard also. You'd be amazed at what
a child can learn by playing those basic but fun table
games.
It's
a good idea to turn off the computer and video game once
in a while and play a "real" hands-on game!
Invite family and friends over on the weekends. Sure it
doesn't have to be every weekend but a couple times a month
would be great. Show them your new trick shot. Have some
laughs! And maybe a few tears will even be shed? No matter
what happens it's getting family together and sharing experiences
what counts. And playing games with family and friends
in a fun setting like a home game room is something every
family could learn to enjoy!
In
closing I'd like to say that "no" my family
is nowhere near being the perfect family. We have our problems
like every family does. We argue and we disagree on many
things but we can still stay close. Somehow having a game
room and playing games with family and friends seems to
relieve that stress and tension and can make even the biggest
of problems go away, at least for the moments we're together
anyway! So I'm convinced from my own experiences that:
"Families
That Play Together, Stay Together"
by Joe Schmieder
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