We’re a “game” family. You want to play a game? We’re…eh…game! (heh heh).
So our latest game addiction is POKER. Yes, the 4 of us sit around playing Texas Hold Em at least once a week. Is it ok for a 6- and 9-year old to be able to use the words “check”, “river” and “all in” correctly in a sentence? Is it bad that I bought them a Poker game for their GameBoys? I don’t know why I see poker as a “bad” game. DH and I are not gamblers – in fact if we ever get to Vegas, I doubt we’ll spend a single cent on gambling. We’re not against it, we just don’t get into it. But we do love a good game!
So here are the things my kids are learning by playing poker (or so I tell myself):
- They are learning to count by ones, fives, tens and twenty-fives. T is 9 and is very good at math, so he is in charge of making sure everyone throws in the correct number of chips. J is only 6 but he know exactly how many chips he needs to put in the pot.
- T and J are both knowledgeable in poker hands, which I totally think is a “life skill”. How would they feel if they were 35 years old and they thought a royal flush was really a toilet at Buckingham Palace?
- It lets us have uninterrupted, quality family time. With our busy schedule, that’s hard to come by these days. So when I think we’ve run low on the family time meter, we pull out the chips.
They are learning to lose. Well, kind of. The other night it was down to DH and T. T had gone all in and it came down to the last card. Of course DH ended up winning the hand, which caused tears to suddenly stream down T’s face. “Hey, man, there’s no cryin’ in poker!” Yes, I really did say that to him. Well....there isn't!
On a totally unrelated subject, I just had a Market Fresh Ham from Arby’s and DANG are those onions strong!!
