(Invest Wisely With Monopoly) The last day of holidays before school returned marked the end of an epic three-day game of highly competitive monopoly! It was fast paced, highly thrilling as each player faced unforeseen financial burdens, and frustrating as strategies were won and others lost.

The best part was that it was fun and enjoyable.

As the game drew to an end and those still standing carefully counted up the wads of cash in their pockets and added it to their prized assets (I sadly was not the proud owner of any high-priced blue or red coloured streets), I began thinking about the value that we’d experienced and benefited from in the last few days.

Quality Time Together

I realised that our epic battle had done wonders for achieving some quality time together. Not only had I successfully managed to divert attention away from the TV (iCarly and Victorious were seriously doing my head in), but I had also managed to initiate some family time that could be shared and enjoyed across all ages of the siblings.

Educational Value

The educational value in a game like Monopoly meant the older girls were exposed to real life concepts concerned with understanding monetary finance and how best to manage their money responsibly. It a lesson in investing wisely with monopoly. Simple mathematics of adding up and giving change proved rewarding to the little ones. It prompted them to consider the balance between the benefits of holding large cash money as opposed to owning many assets, planning ahead and budgeting for taxes and necessary expenditures (like landing themselves in jail or on the many hotels and houses placed on Park Lane and Mayfair), and the concept of working strategically towards achieving their goals.

For Miss 6, even though her interest in the game peaked at times and waned at others (a 6-year-old just doesn’t have the attention span for epic Monopoly battles), it was interesting to work through the challenges of simple mathematics with her. Whilst many might say that resorting to methods such as counting on your fingers is not beneficial to long-term development, it proved a great method in a time poor situation.

Miss 6 showed leaps and bounds when quickly counting her little fingers to add up the dice to move her marker around the board. When she landed herself in jail, we talked about the similarity between the two times tables and doubling numbers. Suddenly 2×3 was an easy “6” despite 3×2 proving a challenge. When the banker found herself short of $100 notes, Miss 6 understood that having 2 lots of $50 notes was just as good.

Team Spirit

Perhaps the most valuable lesson that all children faced throughout the duration of the competition was the importance of fairness and being humble. As older sister #2 landed on free parking for the third time, acquiring so much cash that she could barely count it, the rest of us found ourselves smiling and saying congratulations to her. We understood that whilst it perhaps was not fair that she had all of the good fortune, we we accepted that such was the luck of the game and the roll of the dice.

As official keeper of the peace and judge presiding over sibling rivalry, I speak for all when I say that:

No matter the outcome, win or lose; the experience was fun, thought provoking, highly entertaining, much more rewarding than another episode of Spongebob, and definitely one for the memory bank.

>>> Does you family play intensely competitive games of Monopoly? Do they invest wisely?