Candyland

Last weekend I was talking with some friends about how kids don't play board games anymore. We lamented that we had grown up with all sorts of fun board games that are now all-but-forgotten, abandoned for video games and computer programs.

We learned our colors playing Candyland, learned how to count money playing Life and Monopoly, and practiced manual dexterity with Operation. Today's youth learns how to type and push buttons, how to sit in front of a screen all day.

I saw a TV commercial just now for Candyland, "...a magical place where children's imagination is free, where they play with new friends..." A young, perhaps five-year-old boy carries the game box over to his mom and sets it up on the lush carpet. Mother and son sit on the floor sharing the game. It's exactly the sort of experience I remember having as a child, the kind of experience I hope I can have with my children someday.