Monopoly

I loathe this game.  I will never play it again, ever, in my entire life.

Don't play Monopoly with Claire Adele.  She will win.  In the last 35 games of Monopoly played in our home or on vacation, she has won.  I am not kidding.  In a game a few weeks ago, Pedro and I were playing with her and compared her to Donald Trump.  She said she was more like Putin.  I am not fully sure what that means -- does she think Trump is worse than Putin, or Putin worse than Trump?  I didn't ask.  Yesterday, she said she was like Donald Trump, minus the racism.

The goal of Monopoly is not to accrue the most money, but rather to drive other people into bankruptcy. She does that quite well.  Anytime she has $100 in her pocket, she buys houses or hotels. Today I landed on her hotel on Baltic and was driven in bankruptcy by the $450 rent as the second most humble property on the board had a hotel.  I landed in it three times.  What are the odds of that? Seriously. Either the dice are rigged or the Monopoly gods are out to get me.

Pedro has some kind of death wish with this game.  He keep wanting to play even though Claire Adele wins every game. Why does he want to continue to play? Seriously, I don't get it.  It is always his idea to play, even though no one ever beats Claire Adele. Ever. I need to throw this game in the garbage.  Maybe playing Monopoly is my maternal punishment for not getting my kids an Xbox or getting Pedro a smart phone.

We are on vacation in Bend, Oregon. As I am in a leg brace and on crutches, I cannot ski at Mt. Bachelor with the rest of the family.  When the kids are around, I feel like I should spend some "quality time" with them. This evening, Jack had the good fortune of making dinner so he didn't have to play Monopoly with the kids.  I had some perverse maternal guilt that if I don't play with my kids--especially while on vacation--that I will burn in some special kind of hell for bad mothers.  Even though I know this isn't true, I still feel this way.  My kids are fed, have clean clothes, etc.  They will live if I don't play with them.  But this is vacation. I feel like this makes up for the rest of the year where I have to nag them to do their homework, practice their musical instruments, etc.  Vacations are special, where we should spend time together as a family, interacting and talking. Yet, playing Monopoly isn't a game of kind and gentle conversation.  It involves Claire Adele whining about wanting Boardwalk and Park Place and pitching a fit when someone else gets it. And Pedro flips off his sister every time she collects rent from him. This is family fun? I should sue Parker Bros. for false advertising.

Hearing the game from his perch in the kitchen, Jack made a recommendation: why isn't there an altruistic game where you get points for being kind and generous, not screw them into bankruptcy?That is a good idea, and a game I would play.  But would my kids?