Eight kids went to the Destination Imagination Oregon regional tournament. My wife and I have been managing two teams of neighborhood kids the past four months.

Yesterday, I wrote a short summary of what the Destination Imagination program is all about. Today, here’s a few reasons why I think its such a neat program. I’d encourage every parent to consider being a team manager. That takes considerable giving and kindness from adults, but it is so valuable to children.

• Real Teamwork – Only team members are allowed to contribute to the solution, not the team manager. That means, when conflicts arise, the team must figure out the solution, not the team manager. That forces cooperation and conflict resolution.
• The Best Kind Of Competition – Most teams only compete one time a season, at the regional tournament. A team’s real competition is against themselves.
• DI Is About The Process – The tournament is about celebrating the team’s hard work over four months, not the winners. At tonight’s awards ceremony, every team went up on stage.
• Problem Solving – Every team gets to choose from one of five challenges or problems. The challenges are complex and open to infinite solutions.
• Attention To Detail – Those five challenges are the same for every team all over the world. They have complex, intricate requirements that the team, not the team manager, must interpret.
• Creativity – The most creative solutions to the challenges are of the highest value. Cleverness, twists, out of the box solutions are the norm.
• Think On Your Feet – The Instant Challenge portion is a five minute test of quick thinking, resourcefulness, creativity.
• Fun – My son just reminded me to mention how fun it is. If there’s a better testimonial, let me know.

I’m proud of both of our teams as they were selected to go to the state tournament!!