The Gambler

My Mister Nine has always been a bit of a miser – for the last three years he’s been saving for a house.

Even the bank teller was impressed when I banked his latest savings instalment.

But then along came Ninjago lego and his owning his own home plan got side-tracked.

“Mum, after dinner can we all have a game of Uno?” he asked one night this week.

“Ok,” I eventually agreed, trying not to think about how much I had to get done and remembering how fun these spontaneous activities can be.

We carried on going about our evening, then: “Mum, when we play Uno, I’ve made a rule that everyone has to pay $1 to play and then the winner gets to keep all the $1’s.”

“Ah, isn’t that gambling? Who taught you to gamble?!”

Thinking back to earlier that evening, he had been asking me ways he could earn more money and complaining about his weekly rate, which admittedly is pretty poor but, for the amount of ‘work’ he does, is probably an over-payment.

After his sister came and informed me while I was taking a shower that big bro had been trying to coax $1 out of her to play his Uno card game so he could buy some more Ninjago, I pieced it together and realised he’d had his eye on the prize all along.

He must fancy himself as a bit of an Uno champ or else he hadn’t thought of the consequences of losing – I shudder to think how that would have gone down.

I quickly quashed the gambling idea – not that his no-longer ignorant brother and sister were going to cough up with their money anyway – and I was pleased to note that Master Nine was still keen to host a family game of Uno with no money changing hands.

I was called to his room where the three of them were sitting in a circle on an array of strategically-placed cushions waiting to start the game.

I took my pew on the purple sequinned star cushion, lent for the occasion by Miss Six, and we had a lovely healthy family game of Uno in our pjs, further proving the theory that all  children want is a little of our time.

So the house deposit, to-date, is safe in the bank gaining interest while this Ninjago lego phase (and the, no doubt, subsequent ones) lasts. Meantime, I’ll keep nurturing his entrepreneurial streak the good old-fashioned way.

Now, where was my spring cleaning list?