So we are on month 3 of COVID19 here in Asia. We have had some time to figure out how to keep ourselves from going stir crazy. Playing some boardgames with the kids is a better alternative to youtube or xbox all day long.

I know that being stuck in side can be challenging. Going outside with your kids may not be a possibility if you live in a high density population area. So what do you do with your kids when they are stuck at home, getting stressed out or spending too much time online? Answer: Spend time with them.

Scholastic, the company that is known for educational fun books for kids, said that there many benefits for playing games as a family. If you bring out board games, the kid turn off the screen. You can have special time with your kids and allowing you to teach them about teamwork, patience, and how to win and lose gracefully. Board games can help benefit kids’ brains and language development. 

• Board games offer math skills like probability… but don’t tell them that.
• They boost their language skills as they read cards and ask what words mean.
• They sharpen your child’s focus by getting them interested in reading rules, looking at the play board and figuring out how to win.
• They teach the value of teamwork. All for yourself doesn’t work very often in games. Kids learn that if they play dirty, other people adjust their strategy, and usually form alliances to counter a cutthroat player.
• Strategy games are useful developing thinking skills. Working through problems, adjusting strategy to account for twists and turns is helpful.
• Take your mind off things and easy anxiety. Looking at the news full time isn’t healthy. Especially kids don’t need to be exposed to all of the serious problems outside. Let them focus at home with you.
• Show kids how to be a good loser (and winner). Winning is great. Playing in a way that everyone has fun is better. Kids will learn that is okay to fail in a game, because they can always play again and do better next time.
• Unplug. Unplug. Unplug. To much screen time isn’t good for anyone. Let the eyes have a rest and let your and your kids brain unwind.
• Set an example. Put down the phone and have a conversation with your kids. They will talk with you so much more when playing a game.

Here are a few games that we played during our first 3 months of being at home.

Greetings everyone! The Futures Agency (my company) recently launched the new digital conference series which is generating huge interest from around the globe; the last one had 650 signups and 330 people attending. Not only are these events utterly needed and appreciated as we are all fighting the lock-downs, loss of income and many other consequences of covid19, I think that online conferencing will be a huge business, going forward . We are currently using the amazing Zoom.us platform for our events, but are investigating many other ones as well, such as Vimeo Live, Crowdcast and Lifestorm.  I think we won’t ever give up meeting each other in real-life but online meetings and conferences will certainly become the new normal.
So join me for our next event, details below (Zoom direct sign-up is here)
We must keep meeting, learning and collaborating - if we fail to adapt we will fail to exist:)

Greetings from Zürich and stay well!!

Gerd Leonhard 

Futurist & Humanist, Keynote Speaker Author of “Technology vs. Humanity”

Zurich, Switzerland

www.futuristgerd.com  Youtube: www.gerdtube.com 

CEO of www.thefuturesagency.com LinkedIn Twitter

March 26, 6pm CET :   FREE Digital Conference with Futurists Anton Musgrave, Gerd Leonhard, Liselotte Lygnso, KD Adamson: The Future of BusinessDescriptionDanish futurist Liselotte Lygnso has just been added as guest-speaker, see https://thefuturesagency.com/speakers/liselotte-lyngso/ for more details on Liselotte. Blue Futurist’ KD Adamson will join us as well see https://thefuturesagency.com/speakers/k-d-adamson/. The latest updates will be shared here: https://gerd.fm/39ZgAsN

We are living in an age of perpetual VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) — and given that we are also moving at exponential pace, FORESIGHT is now mission-critical. Being ‘future-ready’ is everyone’s job now, and it requires more than good data, sharp analysis and domain expertise. To ‘have a get feel’ for what’s coming is probably more of an art than a science — imagination and intuition are just as important as experience and knowledge: EQ AND IQ.

Hence, this session will focus on what we call PRACTICAL WISDOM, i.e. we will share our insights and foresights about the next decade and apply them to the here and now. We will present for 15 minutes each, and then take questions and have live discussions with the audience.

We will talk about the 10 Game-Changers impacting every business in the near future, and the Megashifts see www.megashifts.digital focussing on near future scenarios and ‘practical wisdoms’. Have a look at www.futuristgerd.com and https://thefuturesagency.com/speakers/anton-musgrave/ for more Details on what we do.

More details will be published on http://www.theconference.digital soon!
Please note that this is a FREE event, for now, as we are trying out new ideas and concepts. This may change in the future.

GERD’s CONTENT

**** Announcing Digital Conferences

My 2020 film ‘How the Future Works’

My 2019 film on AI: We Need to Talk about AI

Read about The Megashifts, download the free PDF
On Happiness: Chapter 9 from my book, free pdf