coming out of my shell

coming out of my shell

Saturday, December 7, 2019

That lovely boy!

Grandson N (7) is crazy about Monopoly, so we play it often. He wheels and deals with abandon. I fear he’s a natural capitalist, although he is somewhat of a bleeding heart liberal when it comes to his old Grandma. He insists on being the banker, and he WILL slip me money when I start to run out. On the down low, of course. I try VERY hard not to accept his largesse. 

When he and I play alone together, we go by N's rules. He brilliantly proposed that we each start out with a monopoly over one neighborhood on the board so we can immediately start buying houses. It speeds the game up considerably.

We can’t let Grandpa know, because he would disapprove of altering the rules. N refers to Grandpa as “Mr. Play-By-The-Rules Pants.”  N and Grandma disdain “the rules.”


We play on a 40 year-old board.  The same one we played on with his mother.

19 comments:

  1. Oh how lovely indeed!
    Long may his generosity last.

    I remember the time we tried to explain the concept of "going to jail" to the kid and her cousins. Is it a bit like being sick and having to stay indoors? They asked.

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  2. Rules are good guidelines. Many of us use the guidelines to structure our own ways of doing things. You and your grandson are on the right track.

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    1. I think so. I appreciate his creativity, anyway.

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  3. How nice you play on a regulation board. Modern sets are so disappointingly modern. He certainly does know how to play the game. Starting out with monopolies is brilliant.

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    1. It really is. And he thoughtfully decided that the last group of neighborhoods (the wildly expensive greens and blues) are off limits to start out with. That way we don't bankrupt each other right off the bat.

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  4. An interesting variation of the rules. By neighbourhood I guess you mean colour group? I must suggest that the next time Jenny and I fancy a game. But she's also a bit of a play by the rules pants.

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    1. Ha! They can still learn, those play by the rules pantsers. And yes, neighborhood = color group. But as I told Joanne above, the last side (most expensive greens and blues) are not included in the starting out deal.

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  5. Too funny. I love that he slips you money on the down low.

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    1. Me,too. I bet your grandson will, too, when he's old enough to play. They do love their grandma's.

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  6. Your grandson sounds like a delightful human being. Quite a presence. I love that the two of you play monopoly together.

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  7. Am I imposing an unwelcome adulthood on your Monopoly games? Does N know there are capitalists and capitalists? Trump is one such, Bill Gates plus his better half, Melinda, is another. Funnily enough, Bill Gates running Microsoft was a good deal closer to Trump than he would presently care to admit. The way MS crushed Netscape was not nice and almost caused the break-up of the crusher. Now Bill and Melinda have, I think, made a down-payment on a ticket to a better destination via their foundation.

    Does N know about camels and the eyes of needles? I remember hearing about that at Sunday school. Plus a lot of other strictures which I presently avoid.

    Sorry. Actually, I was charmed.

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    1. Oh gee, I really should tell him about the camel and the eye of a needle. And introduce him to St. Jerome, who famously said something like "A rich man is either a thief or the son of a thief." Good stuff. But I should wait, and see who he wants to become. I will accept him and love him regardless. Still, so much to share with a child about the world.

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So, whadayathink?