I would love to paint myself as a Beta Mom who never, ever projects 20 years into the future and thinks about how her sons will be, especially given the wild state of the world (especially parts of the Manosphere). I’m not a helicopter parent (I simply do not have that kind of time), but I wouldn’t say I’m a cool, chill, “anything goes” mom, either. I’ve done too much of my own screen time and dubious app use, and listened to too many podcasts featuring Anxious Generation author Jonathan Haidt, to feel comfortable buying my kids an iPad or turning dinners into TV affairs.
So, I am always looking for tips on how to reduce screen time for kids, especially as my littles get bigger and the societal pull to game becomes stronger. A popular method is to come up with screen-free family night ideas. Analog dinners are one way my family does this, but I’m craving more face-to-face family bonding.
Some of it’s a tad selfish—I’ve been combating digital isolation since becoming a mom twice during the pandemic, and I never went back to work in an office. Even as I’ve reduced my time on social media (and even my inbox), I still want more human interaction in my life, especially with my favorite people: my family. So, I thought back to one family tradition I loved from the 1990s.
Since I wanted screen-free, introducing them to Boy Meets World got nixed (we do have a dog named Topanga, though). But I had another idea. While it wasn’t the smoothest-sailing sell, my kids have come to love it. Here’s what happened when I brought back one ’90s family tradition for a month, and why my kids won’t stop.
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The ‘Retro Friday’ Reveal: Swapping Screens for Board Games
Courtesy Beth Ann Mayer
I decided to resurrect one of my favorite screen-free ’90s family traditions by dusting off classic board games for kids.
Each Friday, we’d have a game night. It gave us a chance to enjoy face-to-face family bonding, combating digital isolation. It also helped my kids gain emotional awareness.
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The Psychology of ‘Face-to-Face’ vs. ‘Side-by-Side’ Bonding
One of the biggest goals of my experiment with family game night was to challenge us to engage more in face-to-face family bonding. When we’re watching Paw Patrol, Toy Story or Bluey, it’s all side-by-side. And that’s how video games will be, even if we’re playing together.
To be clear, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with any of those TV shows or movies (we’ve watched all of them) or many video games. However, I’m all about mixing it up and moderation. My kids are also objectively adorable, so I wanted to see their full mugs, not just a side view.
Besides feeling personally warm and fuzzy, I was surprised by how much a change of view could shift how we treated and reacted to one another. As time went on, my older child began to notice when his younger brother was getting frustrated about falling behind. As a result, my older one stopped gloating so much every time he got a double-color card in Candy Land, inching a little closer to King Candy’s Castle.
It turns out that’s a huge selling point of board games for kids (and, frankly, adults)—and any activity that requires face-to-face interaction.
“They require us to pay attention to each other’s expressions, reactions and emotions,” explains Dr. Holly Schiff, Psy.D., a licensed clinical psychologist who treats children. “Board games naturally create those moments. Kids practice reading social cues, taking turns, negotiating, laughing together and having conversations that go beyond the activity itself.”
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Overcoming the ‘Boredom Spike’: The First 15 Minutes
Courtesy Beth Ann Mayer
Despite my best efforts, my kids do love TV and movies, and often watch them at night. Detoxing from anything is hard, so I was ready for pushback. But I didn’t get much. I attribute my success here to the fact that I didn’t turn screens off and announce, “We’re doing game night!” Instead, the screens had already been off for hours.
I’m not a genius, just a mom who has noticed how hard it is for my kids to transition from screens to “harder” activities, like eating dinner or getting ready for bed. It leads to what psychologists call “the boredom spike.”
“The boredom spike is that uncomfortable period that often happens when a child transitions away from a highly stimulating activity, like screens, and into something slower-paced,” Dr. Schiff explains. “Screens provide immediate rewards, constant novelty and quick feedback, so when they’re removed, regular activities can initially feel ‘boring’ by comparison.”
Now, it wasn’t all good. My kids quickly got frustrated and started saying, “This is boring!” when I needed to refresh my memory on the rules of Candy Land and get acquainted with Race to the Treasure, a cooperative game. They’re used to life on-demand, whereas I remember dial-up internet. It was actually an unintentionally teachable moment.
“The important thing is that boredom isn’t necessarily a problem,” Dr. Schiff tells Parade. “It’s a space where creativity, imagination and independent thinking can develop. Kids often need time to move through that initial discomfort before they rediscover enjoyment in other activities.”
She encourages parents to manage their personal expectations of how these wholesome family traditions will start. “The key is not expecting the transition to feel effortless,” she states. “Parents can acknowledge the discomfort while staying consistent: ‘I know this feels boring right now, but we’re going to try something different.'”
Dr. Schiff says you might be able to slightly reduce the spike in frustration and boredom by proactively having a plan in place rather than just removing screens and letting kids figure it out. That’s where the allure of playing games came in. We weren’t going to stare at a wall instead of watching TV; we were going to play. Game on!
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3 Rules That Saved Our ’90s Family Night
As excited as I was to dig into board games for kids, it wasn’t my first rodeo with competition and children. Both of my kids can have some issues with losing (and winning) gracefully. It made me hesitant to go forward with a Retro Night, but I’m glad I did.
“The goal of family game night isn’t to create perfect behavior or avoid conflict,” Dr. Schiff emphasizes. “It’s really about creating a safe place where kids can practice connection, communication, patience and resilience. Those skills develop through repeated, everyday interactions.”
Here’s how I set that scene.
1. These are games of luck
My kids naturally want to be the “best” at everything, but you literally have no control over which Candy Land card you choose (unless the deck is stacked—which I may have done on one occasion when my older one wanted to play just me one more time and I wanted to go to bed).
I started each game by reminding them that someone would win and someone would lose, and it would be about luck, not who was “better” at anything, like when the Mets and Yankees play. (And, yes, I projected 20 years into the future and secretly hoped that they’d keep “luck” in mind before signing up for a gambling app).
In the end, it’s important to know how to lose, and I wanted to be a safe space for our kids to get acquainted with these feelings.
“Board games provide a safe, structured environment where kids can practice losing and learn that disappointment is temporary,” Dr. Schiff explains. “Losing a game gives children the opportunity to experience frustration, regulate their emotions and try again without the stakes being too high.”
When a child gets frustrated, she suggests validating the feeling, rather than trying to “solve a problem. She recommends saying, “It’s really disappointing when you were hoping to win.”
“Then help them practice what comes next: taking a breath, congratulating the winner and thinking about what they might try differently next time,” she says.
We tried this approach, and it improved over the weeks. Because we were playing games of luck, “try differently” meant “react differently to losing (or winning if someone gloated).”
2. Adults set the standard
I’m quietly competitive. I grew up playing sports and still cover them. I can turn anything into a contest in my head, and sometimes I externalize that. I had to suppress those urges when playing games with my kids.
“Kids learn less from what we tell them and more from how we handle our own disappointment when things don’t go our way,” Dr. Schiff says. “Healthy competition creates shared memories and gives families a chance to play different roles: sometimes you win, sometimes you cheer someone else on, and sometimes you work together toward a common goal.”
Whether I won or lost, I smiled and shook everyone’s hand.
3. Kids pick the game
I thrust game night on my kids, but I let them choose what we played. Each child got to pick one game for us to all play.
“Giving kids a chance to choose helps them feel a sense of ownership and importance within the family,” Dr. Schiff says. “It communicates that their interests and preferences matter. It can be quite empowering. Choice also increases engagement because kids are more likely to invest emotionally in an activity they helped select.”
It definitely helped me gain immediate buy-in.
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The Emotional Payoff: Why They Begged To Keep Going
Courtesy Beth Ann Mayer
Within two weeks, my kids knew that Friday meant games. One month later, the challenge stopped, but they wanted to keep going. They already mapped out games they wanted to play the following week and the week after that, determined to get through our once-dusty game cabinet. The laughs, conversations and attention we gave one another felt fresh, and we didn’t want to lose those feelings.
“When competition stays playful, it creates laughter, connection and opportunities for kids to see their parents as people who enjoy spending time with them, not just as rule-setters or problem-solvers,” Dr. Schiff notes.
It sure beats going down rabbit holes about all of the things “wrong” with boys today—or Reddit threads psychoanalyzing the characters from Sesame Street and Frozen.
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Dr. Holly Schiff, Psy.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist who treats children.Hence then, the article about i brought back one 90s family tradition for a month and my kids didn t want to stop was published today ( ) and is available on Parade ( Saudi Arabia ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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