Monopoly

My son is going to be 6 this year, and I thought it would be good to teach him the value of money since he used to count them according to the number of currency notes he has irrespective of the amount, for example, he may have three RM10 notes and five RM5 notes but to him, he only has 8 ringgit/dollar. Alamak! This is not good!

So I went out to Toys R Us store sometime in December last year to get him the Monopoly Junior. He was thrilled with it from the get go and started playing it on a daily basis until he is really good at it. The rules are simple and obviously, it is does not have the same rules as the Standard monopoly. Anyway, the rules are meant for kids between the age of 5 - 8 years old. So who cares, right? So day in and day out he went around bugging everyone to play the board game with him until ...

His aunt got tired of playing the Junior version and decided to teach him the Standard version. On the box it says that it is suitable for kids above 8 years old and adults, of course. Either his aunt can't read or my son is way beyond his age and is able to comprehend the complexity of Monopoly's cut throat strategy of winning. Err.. maybe that only existed in my side of family when I was a kid.

The reason why I was initially against my son playing the grown-up Monopoly is because when adults play with kids, adults may find it difficult to play according to the rules exactly, and they have to give in to the kids so that the kids don't cry or feel disappointed when they lose the game that they do not fully comprehend. But giving kids a chance is also not good because then adults are teaching the kids that they (the kids) can always get away with certain rules just because they are kids.

Today, I know for a fact that my son don't need sympathy when it comes to playing Monopoly. He has beaten me twice fair and square since we started playing it according to the official rules. And whenever I do beat him, he thinks that I put some sort of mambo-jambo on the dices so that I always get both Parklane and Mayfair. I wonder where he picks up such statement!?

Anyway, I learn that I should not impose my ideals to my son and to anyone else for that matter. My son's ability to learn the game and to develop his own strategy in buying properties impresses me very much especially at his age. Okay he still cries once in while when things don't go according to his expectations but that's okay - he is still only 5+. So, the possibility of what Roving Soul has said in the comment section could be true that my son's ability must have come from my wife's side of family (Roving Soul and my wife are related) because when I was at his age, all I knew was Buy! Buy! Buy! at every property I landed on - so of course, I went broke pretty quick. I would like to think that I am smarter now but the point is my son still can still outsmart me.

So to all the mommies and daddies out there, do get your kids a game (value adding game) that all of you can play together. Your son or daughter may not understand the game in the beginning but you will be surprise how fast they learn.

Finally, please take a few minutes of your time to vote for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to be part of the World Edition Monopoly. Thank you.