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The most priceless gift you can give to your family is your ‘time’. Our Rann trip offered us many opportunities to spend more time with each other and many instances to build everlasting memories.
In a world where families are leading busy lifestyles and retreating into individual tech bubbles, a holiday becomes a perfect excuse to bring the families together.
We chose to visit the Rann during the winter break for the school semesters, so that the kids can enjoy freely. Far from the constraints and grinding expectations of school life, from homework and projects to complete – they learned the tricks of a ‘new subject’ in Rann.
After trying their hands on table tennis and carom, the kids were keen on playing the game of chess. ‘Dadaji I have played this several times on computer, please let me play with you’, pleaded Rahul. No video game or computer version can match the glee of playing with the real chess pieces. Chess is one of the most popular strategygame. It has been proven to develop your critical thinking and analytical skills. It also teaches you to make complex decisions under pressure and improves your problem solving abilities.
I taught my grandchildren few basic strategies and shared few handy tips-
- Protect your king at all times.
- Think before you make a move
- Don’t delay castling
- Get the knights and bishops out before you move your rooks or queen
- And control the centre of the board with your pieces and pawn
After a few rounds of capturing and guarding the chess pieces…controlling important squares…. castling and checkmates…we discovered a new bond of friendship blossoming between me and my grandchildren. We decided that we will do this often and include chess in our family nightly fun activities on weekends. It is so much better than everyone sitting with their cell phones doing their own things.
And just think how great it could be if family nightly fun activities would include a few games of chess or puzzle solving. It is so much better than everyone in their corners/rooms on their cell phones doing their own things.
