Parenting in Focus: Lessons in playing together

Published 1:30 am Monday, July 20, 2026

Children love it when parents play with them. In the earliest months, play begins with simple games like peekaboo as a baby watches your face appear and disappear.

As children grow older, play often becomes more active and energetic — especially the kind of roughhousing many dads enjoy. Soon enough, children become old enough for simple board games like Candy Land, turning family game time into an exciting new experience.

But games provide much more than entertainment. Nearly every game teaches important lessons, both for children and for parents.

Even a simple game like Candy Land teaches basic counting and color recognition. More importantly, it helps children learn how to sit still, wait for their turn, and follow rules. One of the hardest lessons for young children — learning how to lose gracefully — often begins around the game table. These are valuable social and emotional skills that children benefit from learning long before kindergarten.

Parents are learning during this time as well. Playing games with children teaches patience, understanding, encouragement, and gentle ways to guide learning.

As children grow, games continue to build new skills. The game Sorry! introduces more counting and early reading. Many children’s games naturally make reading feel fun and rewarding. Before long, games such as Monopoly and Life begin teaching lessons about money, decision-making, and planning ahead. Strategy games like chess encourage problem-solving and critical thinking.

The next time you play a game together, think about all the learning taking place. “Playing games” is often much more important than it first appears.

Yet perhaps the greatest lesson is not found on the game board at all.

When you play with your child, you are strengthening your bond with her. Bonding is built through trust, attention, affection, and shared experiences. It begins in infancy when you respond to cries, provide comfort, or hold your child when she is upset. But bonding continues throughout childhood in everyday moments — talking together while making dinner, reading a bedtime story, comforting her after a fall, or laughing together during a game. So let the games begin.

These small moments matter deeply.