I have a room full of Boy Scouts playing Monopoly here and am huddled in the corner on the pretext of making sure they understand the rules, but really just to make sure they don't get too sweary. But watching out for sweary boys isn't what's making me feel old.....it's the fact that Monopoly now doesn't seem to come with any money!
Not sure if it's just this particular edition, but there's no cash involved. Instead, each player is issued with a credit card and there is a bleep-making machine that transfers funds from one card to another. I can see that it's a nice gimmick for the kids, but how does it teach them anything about handling money?
One of the boys is mine and I remember him, not so very long ago, arguing for some new football boots. I had told him that we had no money right then and his reply was a casual "well go to the cash point then". I had to explain (and it took a while) that the cash point didn't just print money but only gave me the money that I had in the bank. Nothing in the bank, nothing out of the cash point.
But it did make me realise that kids don't really SEE as much money as I did when I was small. That's not to say I was rich, but I do recall seeing my parents pay for things with cash. I understood that people worked for money, that money went into pockets and then out and into the hands of shop-keepers, garage owners, publicans, etc.
In my old age I am now thinking "kids these days....they don't know the worth of money....they think that there's always going to be money on a credit card or out of a hole in the wall". It makes me sad because it's true but it makes me sadder that I am even thinking it.
