America is going through an energy crisis of incredible proportions. Consumption of coffee/tea/energy drinks are up. New products are being introduced every week. Staying up later. Getting up earlier. Getting by with a little help from our friends at Starbucks, et. al. We’re also going through another sort of energy crisis as costs for electricity and gasoline continue to climb. Homes are consuming more electricity today than ever before in our history. For those on the move, batteries continue to flood the market and our landfills as more devices are designed to for our mobile generation. What to do? TOP (Turn it Off and Play) off your day, trip, Saturday, or anytime.
Our two huge energy crises could both be dealt with if we could figure out how to reduce our use of electrical conveniences and electronic distractions and use our time to simply play. Here are some specifics.
1) Turn Off some or all of the following you might find around your house:
- Televisions (got one for the bathroom yet?).
- Desktop computer (after you read this blog of course)
- Laptop, iPad, Netbook
- Kindle, Nook (Price of used book cases on eBay just dropped.)
- Telephone (remember the old landline phones?)
- Smart phone (Is the opposite called a dumb phone?)
- TiVo or DVR or Video Recorder (My guess is that you haven’t watched what you’ve already recorded.)
- Game systems, like X-Box and PS3. (No one ever got rich from playing X-Box.)
- Power tool re-chargers. (Anyone remember what a hand saw looks like?)
2) And Play together. I remember playing lots of different games growing up like:
- Board games like Life, Chutes and Ladders, Sorry, Monopoly, Clue, etc. Carroms
- Card games like Rummy, Rook, Flinch, Skipbo, Authors, Bridge
- Outdoor games in the park or backyard might include stick ball, croquet, badminton, volleyball, golf, water balloon toss, or even just flying a kite.
- Make up games. Increase your family’s creativity by seeing who can come up with the next game. Write down the rules even though they might sound dumb.
- Traveling? We used to play travel bingo or the letters game to encourage our children to look for things or letters to pass the time as we drove in the car.
- Read. Another way to expand your family is to take turns reading together.
At the end of the day, most of us are tired from looking at screens. Perhaps it’s time to just TOP Your Family – “Turn it Off and Play.”
[Article first appeared in the May 2011 issue of Family Times produced each month by Play-a-Round Golf. Want your own copy? Just send your mailing address to starter@playaroundgolf.net and we’ll make sure that the next copy is mailed to you.]
