Monopoly is SCARY.

Pablo and I have moved on to MONOPOLY, and for all my rage against the man, capitalism sux kind of attitude, I love to play Monopoly. Of course, no grown-ups will play. They want to play grown-up games. So you can imagine my delight when Pablo agreed to play with me.

We set up the game, I explained the rules, and off we went. Until someone went to jail. Then it got progressively less fun. "Why do people go to jail?" "Why do people do things wrong?" "Why do I have to go to jail just for getting 3 sets of doubles? Is that wrong?" "Is it scary in jail?"

I answered as best I could, and only talked about it from the perspective of the game unless directly asked about REAL LIFE. Then I was as gentle as I know how to be.

And yet, in the hour and a half we played, he went from thinking Monopoly was his new favorite game to a quivering wreck of a 5 year old, petrified that he would have to go to jail. At one point, having rolled 2 sets of doubles, he handed me the dice, asked me to roll for him, and ran from the room.

Finally, in spite of having twice as much money as me, hotels and houses on the only 2 monopolies on the board, and the makings of a booty whipping for mama, he asked to quit. Jail was just too stressful.

I was so sad. I had great compassion for his fear, but I was seriously bummed at losing a Monopoly partner. I thought and thought and thought about what to do. Finally, I asked Pablo if Monopoly lost a jail and gained a PARK (with rules about how you get in and how you get out that are suspiciously like going to jail...), would he feel more comfortable playing the game?

The answer was a resounding YES! much to my joy and delight. So today we played again. For another hour and a half (ie until Beebz was too pissed of at being largely ignored) we played. We went to the park, we bought properties. We had FUN. The game is on pause now, due to a pressing need to play playmobile Mamma Mia (where they are playing Chutes and Ladders right now. Confused yet?). But I bet we pick up tomorrow right where we left off (by the by, I am doing way better this time. He will have to work to kick my booty).

One of the best parts of having kids is having someone to be a kid with. Thanks Pablo!!

PS Holy crap. He has the Chutes and Ladders board memorized and is wanting me to play by memory. No, wait. He says in this game, everything is doubled. So the board repeats itself, along with all the chutes and ladders. Jiminy cricket. And the spinner now goes up to 12. Thank goodness he will be keeping track of all this....