The Board Game Family stops by

This week, I’ll shut my pie hole and let another dad talk about one on one time with his daughter.  Here’s Trent from The Board Game Family talking a little bit about one of his favorite Daddy-Daughter Dates.

-Scott-

Daddy-Daughter dates are fantastic. Getting out with your daughter is terrific one-on-one time.

But no one says you have to go out to have a date. In our house, a lot of our Daddy-Daughter time is spent around a table – a game table to be precise.

We love play board games and card games in our family. We’ve found that board games offer a great way to spend quality face-to-face time with each other.

With 3 boys and 1 girl in our family, Brooke gets that special daughter attention and she loves it. She turns 12 at the end of the summer and is at a great age for doing things together. Since her interests are expanding (so is her time with friends) it’s important to still make time to spend with her. So pulling a game off the shelf to play together is a great way to keep our relationship strong.

She’s also surprised me this last year in the types of board games she’s wanted to play with me. For the most part she’s enjoyed games on the lighter side without a lot of strategy. Games that have more elements of luck have been fun to her because they level the playing field. And board games that have fun themes, like food and animals, or let you act silly are particularly appealing to her.

So I was in for a surprise when I pulled out a new game for a grand adventure with my 3 sons – Defenders of the Realm. It’s a cooperative board game set in a fantasy world with wizards, elves, dwarves, rangers, and evil foes to vanquish.

But lo and behold, the one that loved it right from the start was Brooke!

Brooke has never been interested in anything fantasy themed in the past. Fantasy themed games hold no interest for her and the same has been true for any other dice rolling combat type games. So my assumption from the very beginning was that she’d have no interest in Defenders of the Realm. Thus, my only thoughts were centered on playing it with my boys.

But when I set up the game for the first time, Brooke walked in to see what I was up to. Then she noticed that there were a couple female character roles and asked me what the game was about. Next thing I know, she’d picked a character card and pulled up a chair.

So we went through what she could do on her turn, what her special skills were and we were off and rolling – literally. And of course right from the start she was knocking down minions left and right and worrying about not rolling high enough numbers. And as the evil generals started advancing she was totally into the game – concerned that we wouldn’t get to them in time.

Although our first play of the game ended in defeat for us, Brooke was anxiously asking when we’d get to play it again. Of course, I don’t think she would have ever hit that level of interest if I hadn’t been playing board games with her since she was little.

I’ve always felt that games provided a great way to connect with kids (and to stay young ourselves). Getting down on the floor to play a game with them that they’re interested in is time well spent – even
if it does involve princesses and tiaras.

In fact, we think board games are such a good way for parents to build relationships with their children that we started a website dedicated to that very thing.

We post video and written reviews of fun family board games, card games, and party games. The unique aspect of our video reviews is that it’s the kids doing the reviews. They’re the ones talking about the games so parents can see what their own kids might enjoy. And our most prolific game reviewer is our daughter Brooke.

If you’d like to see what board games are her favorites, take a look at our game reviews list where you can click on her name at the top of the table to sort the reviews by her rating. (You’ll see that she has quite a long list of 5 out of 5 and 4.5 out of 5.)

So next time you’re looking for a Daddy-Daugher Date idea, grab a game and have some fun.

– Trent

www.TheBoardGameFamily.com

P.S. And if you haven’t tried a cooperative board game before (where you work together as a team to defeat the game), we’ve got a great recommendation for you that’s great with daughters – Forbidden
Island.

This makes it all worth it

Look, blogs aren’t the most popular things to read out in the Internet, well, at least mine isn’t.  But there are SO MANY of them, which means there are so many people slaving away in front of a computer screen; and for what?  For a few visitors every once in a while that drop by.  Often to promote their own blog. 

But then, you receive that email/note/tweet that makes it all worth it.  Here’s the one I got from Kristi (notice it’s not a dad):

I was just lead to your blog by my husband. We have two daughters, 6 and 2, and are expecting our third little girl in September.

I grew up in a house with two younger sisters do I’m familiar with the dynamics of an all-girl household, plus my Dad.

Growing up, I was always seeking my dads approval. Whether it be test scores, track races or wearing a pretty dress. He never really acknowledged these things. In fact, he often joked about those subjects, never ever really telling us how proud he was of us. My sisters and I grew up and are still quite insecure women and I attribute this somewhat to my dads inability to show his love and/or praise.

Raising two (soon to be three) daughters ourselves, my husband and I have always felt that a strong daddy-daughter unconditional relationship is so very important. In fact, my six year old and husband go on many daddy-daughter dates from the driving range to quadding to quiet afternoon matinees. These moments melt my heart as I know how beneficial these are to our daughters well being.

Thank you for your blog and insight on daddy-daughter relationships. After perusing your blog today, I laughed and I cried, but most of all, it reinstates the fact that there is no greater relationship than that of a dad and his girls.

Thank you!
I have to say, I am touched.  Normally blogs are one of those things that you don’t always see the impacts, but you put it out there hoping it’s hitting home.

“You like me! You REALLY LIKE ME!”

Kristi told me three big points there: #1 – Her husband was the one that found the site and it was something powerful enough for him to pass on #2 – That she is a living testament to a father’s impact, whether conscious or unconscious #3 – That there is a dad making a difference in the lives of 4 women.

That’s why I love my readers.  Whether you guys (and girls) respond or not, I’m honored that you’d stop by the blog and that you take the time for your daughters.   Thanks for reading and thanks for being a dad….

-Scott-

A rose by any other name….

So unless you haven’t picked up a paper, checked any of your social media outlets, or crawled out from underneath that rock, you heard that Jessica Simpson and her fiance Eric Johnson welcomed their baby girl into the world.  I’m totally pumped that Jessica Simpson finally had her daughter, because of two reasons:

#1 – it gives me one more reader as there is another dad out there with a daughter

and

#2 – the media will stop covering the whole thing

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Jessica is all that everyone makes her out to be, but let’s face it: that convulsive head thing she does when she sings COULD NOT have been good for that baby in utero.  But seriously, maybe motherhood will change things up for her.  Just after the kid gets over her name.  Oh, you didn’t hear?  The daughter’s name is Maxwell Drew Johnson.

Now, the Johnson part I get.  The Drew part is cool (Jessica’s mother’s maiden name) and is sort of like Nancy Drew.  But Maxwell?  For a girl?  Look, I might take some flak here, but if someone is going to stand up to celebrities that name their kids weird things, it should be this blog.

Take for example, the following daughters of celebrities:

Alcamy – Lance Henriksen / Mary Jane Henriksen

Ever Gabo – Milla Jovovich / Paul W. S. Anderson

Tu Simone Ayer – Rob Morrow / Debbon Ayer

Brody Jo – Gabrielle Reece / Laird Hamilton

And it wouldn’t be a list without Zappa’s kids:

Moon Unit and Diva Muffin – Frank Zappa / Gail Zappa

How she turned out like THIS, I’ll never know

All I’m saying is that I think it’s a bit unfair to already throw the kid into a tumultuous upbringing like Hollywood.  Now you add some really odd name that require them to follow an initial introduction up with “Really.”

So this is an open plea to Mr. Johnson:

Dude, you need to change your daughter’s name.  Your fiancee has been attributed, whether factual or not, with some of the most public blunders known to this generation.  You can avoid one more notch on that flag pole.  Find yourself a baby name book, look at the top ten girl names last year, and do the ole’ cover and point.

NOPE-NOPE-NOPE. Find a different book.

A quick sharpie marker, a few record updates, and just tell Jess that it was her idea.  I’m pretty sure she’d swallow that hook.  If not, that’s okay.  Just take her on a few Daddy-Daughter Dates when she’s old enough.  Thanks for reading and thanks for becoming a new dad…

-Scott-