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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Values and the Game of Life

Our kids have been playing the game of Life the last week or so. It's going...ok. I mean, when you have two grown-ups, a seven, six and five-year-old involved it can get a little hairy. I, for one, am usually highly competitive. My kids know this about me and they accept it--well, mostly. But when I see my oldest son choosing to have another kid instead of receiving $240,000 worth of rare paintings, I can't help but praise him for his values--even though, clearly, it's a dumb move.

Our conversations go something like this:

Me: Uh oh! You can either win the lottery or have your fifth child, Mr.

Oldest: I'll take the kid.

Me: What I mean is, you can pay off the bank or get another kid...

Oldest: I'll take the kid.

Middle Son: You'll have to strap it to the top of your car. It's your fifth and you only have three seats in the back. Your wife's already in the front.

Oldest: It's my decision.

Me: Well, I'm...That's...Honey, Mommy is so proud of you for taking the kid.

And all this is well and good, nay? But then, twice our sweet oldest has retired as a philosopher with zero cash and a couple of promissory notes. And though I'm loathe to announce it, our savvy middle child with the amoral decision-making has twice retired as a tycoon by playing the stock market. Sigh. Help, I say. The game is not backing me up, people...

12 comments:

  1. My oldest loves that game too. I remember once she had a $100,000 payday and retired heartbroken b/c she never landed on a baby space. We know the problem with that game is the philosophy "he/she who dies with the most toys wins."

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  2. ahahahahahaa I'm dying laughing. Remember how much I loved that game, and particularly liked to be banker? I'd even play with you and Miriam and ONLY be the banker. Ivan has always been so family-oriented (planning for a wife and kids since he was two), and Caleb has always been...well...so dang hard to parent, in his extreme intelligence. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

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  3. Just re-reading it and still laughing..."clearly it's a dumb move." Yes, yes it is. I've made three of those dumb moves...hahahaha

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  4. Ahahahahahahaha. I wrote this mostly for you and me, Peach. Six dumb moves. LOL!!!!

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  5. So dumb, that by that last pregnancy, all we could do was cling to each other and watch Angels in America until it passed....hahahahahaha

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  6. Har har har! Yikes, Peach, all our dirty laundrey being aired on Blogger. Have I mentioned how much I approve of dumb moves?? Eh heh heh heh (nervous laughter at the idea of being fantastically misunderstood)... Charity, of course you're right about the game of Life. I thought that maybe my kids were getting the wrong idea. The problem is that the game is so fun and we're so unable to play outside :( What to do? We could play Clue-do...but then that focuses on murder. Again, help, I say!

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  7. P.S. I suppose it's Settlers of Catan for us. I had so hoped my kids wouldn't become dorks, but I see now that there's no help for it...

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  8. Aaaand, they'll be poor spellers, too, apparently since I misspelled laundry. Great.

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  9. I know what I'm sending next! hint: Laundrey

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  10. So funny. At least amoral Caleb will be able to pay off Ivan's debts eventually. And maybe Gracie will turn out. :D

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  11. My husband and I laughed aloud for a good ten minutes!

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