What happened to the Days of Playing Board Games?

I am in the midst of cleaning out closets and I discovered I had 23 board games that are collecting dust and haven't been played for many years.

It was board games that taught our children that you don't always win. It wasn't just the board game but discussion around it and when you lost you were willing to shake your opponent's hand and say "good job." 

Board games were part of family gatherings and what we did on weekends. I remember we played these games at family events until our first grandchild was born. After dinner we would gather in the living room and watch this new addition to our family begin to roll over, crawl, and eventually take his first steps. This was repeated year after year with each new grandchild and we never got tired of encouraging, clapping, and saying "good job" to this precious new addition to our family.

So the years went by and when they grew up I thought we would now go back playing board games but by them, the digital world had opened up and there was a lot more action in those games than in board games.

There are times we want to hang onto the past in many different ways and I think for me keeping all those board games reminded me of days that were slower, enjoyable, and allowed for more verbal interaction with one another. 

I saw this scripture recently in my daily Bible reading and it really spoke to me - Ecclesiastes 3:6  "A time to keep and a time to throw away." For me, it is time to give away these board games but hang onto the wonderful memories. There are seasons for everything and I realize the season of family board games needed to be passed on to the next generation.

I called my daughter and showed her the picture of the games and asked if she wanted any of them. She came over and decided to take 13 of them home with her. She was in charge of activities for her older son's class and decided to introduce them to board games and have more interaction with one another. She recently posted the group playing "Catch Phrase" and they looked like they were enjoying it! Who knows maybe board games will have a comeback in the younger generation.