It’s important for families to bond, but it can be tough to compete with our children’s technology. Additionally, organizing fun activities everyone can agree on is challenging. Luckily, the same century that brought our teens their smartphones has given us escape rooms— a new immersive experience that is helping to reconnect families.
As the real-life counterpart to the online games, escape rooms provide an opportunity for parents and teens to practice skills of observation, lateral thinking, and time management while gaining a new perspective on one another. In these games, players are “locked” into a thematic room filled with challenging puzzles and riddles and given a time-sensitive objective.
For a parent and his or her teenager, this could be a recipe for mayhem and drama, but escape rooms are phenomenal exercises in cooperation, communication, and collaboration. The plethora of puzzles means individuals have a moment to shine and have their distinctive strengths realized and appreciated by the whole family.
Using escape rooms to reconnect with each other isn’t just practical, it’s chemical! Studies have shown that acute stress during times of crisis is partially responsible for bringing people closer together, allowing for a friendlier and more social atmosphere for exchanging ideas. Escape rooms create the feeling of impending doom minus the actual doom, meaning families just reap the benefits of these “bonding hormones.”
Win or lose, these games offer an unforgettable journey for families, helping them discover their weaknesses and strengths, define their familial roles, and build trust as they work to achieve a common goal. “
