To wonder if we sound normal enough routine wise

[sugarlumpwasarockinghorse]

My children are six next month and three. The older one is obviously in school and the younger one in preschool three days a week.
dc1 does beavers, swimming and basketball after school 3 nights a week then football & rugby weekends

the three year old doesn’t do after school activities but does ballet, swimming and a regular class on one of our days off. So we’re quite busy.

We get home from school and preschool just before 4, they usually play outside for a bit if the weather is OK or play with their toys inside. Dinner is at 5 and then I start their bath and bed routine at 6.

I was wondering about getting my older one some board games for Christmas and one response when I asked for recommendations was incredulity I hadn’t done them with the kids yet. I guess I’m just wondering if we sound normal! As I don’t actually know when I’d fit them in just at the moment!

My kids love board games. They are 7 and 5 and have been playing monopoly and Catan for a good while now. But it wasn't forced, they just wanted to. We probably wouldn't have if they didn't.

The game board discussion is now making me think of IT crowd ‘Game BOARD, game BOARD’

Define "normal"! Don't people just do what works best for them?

I’ve got really active boys (now 5 and 9) that spend most of their time playing football. But we’ve always still played board games since age 3. When I just had one and a baby we played every evening after dinner - now it’s less and goes in phases, maybe once a week on average. Is your definition of a board game quite narrow and you have actually been playing games others would consider it? Like the orchard toys ones - animal snap/paies/dominoes, simple dice ones then from 4-5 guess who, junior monopoly etc. I find board games and jigsaws easier than imaginative play and crafts - which maybe others would think I don’t do enough of but my boys aren’t too bothered about those.

Board games are the most boring thing we can think of as a family, we have tried them all and we would rather stare at a wall instead, we would get more enjoyment!

Ditto jigsaws.

Also I did it cos I had to but I HATED playing imagination games with the kids when they were small, bored the crap out of me.

I think reading is important, art is important qnd some physical activities is super important. If you had those covered ib my mind you are doing alright!

I forgot to add uno and dibble, if they count as board games. She loved those. Like yours, she’s very active so sitting still for ages hasn’t always been her go to thing. She’s a good reader so i don’t think it has any bearing on school work other than reinforcement but it is good for logic and problem solving brain skills.

Im french and yes the six year olds schedule sounds ridiculous. If they enjoy it great but when do they just chill and relax? When are they bored and just entertain themselves?

Do you like board games? We do and do it has been something fun we do together and have moved them onto interesting strategic games. I guess it is easier to fit in now they are both have slightly later bedtimes but it's more of a weekend or holidays thing. Great on train journey recently. Maybe try to figure out what types of games you'd all enjoy - there are some fun cooperative ones where you are working together rather than competing if you think they would like that more.

We play lots of board games with our 5 year old and have done since before he was 4. We love them and have a large collection of games we play together most evenings. But we don’t do all of those clubs, my child would hate that amount of structure and running about here and there- and so would we! He has swimming lessons once a week and I think that’s plenty at his age.

All families are different.

Oh we LOVE board and card games. Kids are 7 and 5 and have been playing for as long as I can remember. Current favourites are Toucano, The Muddles, Ticket to Ride First Journey, Uno, Cluedo Jr, Outfoxed, Carcassonne, Never Ending Stories, Bus Stop, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, Dobble, Happy Families and Yam Junior. For your age of kids and considering this would be their first step into games then I'd recommend Bus Stop, Outfoxed, Uno or Yam Junior. For your eldest, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza might be good or The Muddles, and for your youngest pretty much anything by Orchard Games. Peaceable Kingdom games are good for this age as well as they're all co-operative games (as is Outfoxed) so you either all win or all lose.

I recommend joining a kids board games group on Facebook or similar as traditional board games like Snakes and Ladders or anything that has a character on it tend to be really long and boring. There are so many lesser known games, you just need to tap into the actual board gaming community.

You could try playing something like Beetle Drive together first as all you need for that is a dice, pencil and paper but it feels similar to a board game.

As for the actvities you do, it does sound like a lot and I don't know how you and your kids aren't exhausted, I know we would be but if it's working for you then I can't see any issue. We do like to prioritise having plenty of time to read together and we try and fit some games in a few times a week. They're really good for developing lateral thinking, turn taking, strategies, understanding other people's feelings in winning and losing etc, but they're definitely not essential.

It depends on the type of family you are and the type of kids you have! My little one doesn't have much tolerance for being outside unless it's at a park unfortunately but she loves board games...and so do we...plus we work full time so have quite limited time in the evenings. Board games therefore work really well for us. We can choose one to play after dinner depending on how much time we have available. I also don't have much patience for playing dolls and roll play so even though I know it is great for her and I do try....playing a game as a family is much more mentally easy on us as parents! Selfishly.