TheBanyanTree: Monopoly

[Margaret R. Kramer]

I used to dig around in my parents’ things when I was a girl and that’s how
I discovered the game of Monopoly.  I found my dad’s game buried in a closet
and I pulled it out, curious about the play money and the property cards and
the small wooden (yes, that version had wooden hotels and houses) red hotels
and green houses.

I begged my dad to play it with me.  He did and I got hooked.  I spent hours
playing the game by myself if I couldn’t find gullible neighbors to play it
with me.  Every once in a while my dad would take some time and spend a
couple of hours playing it with me and that was a very special treat.

I bought a newer version when I moved out on my own.  My son discovered it
and he, too, became a Monopoly buff.  Whenever I had to stay home with him
when he was sick, I usually got conned into playing Monopoly with him.  I
used to set time limits on the games – usually I would set them to two hours
so we wouldn’t be playing it all day.

But that’s the beauty of Monopoly.  There can be a definite end if the
players are patient enough to wrangle over property and work through trades
and take out mortgages.  But there doesn’t have to be an end either.  The
end can be whenever everyone is tired of playing.  Then we count up everyone
’s money and declare a winner.

My grandsons were introduced to Monopoly at their day care last summer.  The
older one enjoys digging around in my closets and he found my game.  We were
watching the boys last night while their mother was at work and their dad
was in Florida.  After dinner, we got out the game, and began to play.

The four year old doesn’t really understand, but it’s a good game for him,
because he learns how to count money, take turns, negotiate with others, and
to follow rules.  Four year olds, I think, are just beginning to understand
the concept of rules.  The little one loves to cheat and change the rules to
his benefit.

The older one, he’s six years old, uses this game to build on his math
skills, practice his reading, cooperate with others, and learn how to
strategize, and to keep his focus.  Good stuff.

Ray and I learn how to be patient.  We were exhausted with all the
chattering and loud side conversations, we’re very quiet people, and the
boys are not.

But there’s something special about playing board games that I had
forgotten.  The TV was off, so there was no empty noise in the house.  We
could stop and go to the bathroom or get something to drink.  Even though it
was loud and boisterous, we were communicating with each other, and not off
in our own worlds via the computer or the TV.  We were together as a family,
enjoying each other’s company.

And there was an end . . . when we got tired and all of us were losing our
focus.  We counted up the money and the property.  The older grandson won.
We picked up the game and put it back in the box.

I realized one thing, the boys are now old enough to play board games,
including this wonderful game of Monopoly which never goes out of date.
After we eat our turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, we’ll be able to gather
around the table and bond together as a family as we move our little pieces
around a piece of cardboard.  And for that, I give thanks.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

http://www.bpwmn.org
Business and Professional Women of Minnesota

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true
measure of our thanksgiving.
~W.T. Purkiser