A Sign of the Times?

or creating bigger monsters than we already have by desensitizing youngsters to the value of a dollar and the ease of credit card use?

Look at what is replacing academic -related counting and budgeting skills. The items I have bolded are of particular interest.

• Game has been updated with modernized tokens, higher property values, favorite landmarks and credit cards replacing cash
• Game board comes with title deed cards, chance and community chest cards, 6 debit cards, 2 dice, 6 tokens, 32 houses, 12 hotels and instructions
• Now you can collect rent, buy properties and pay fines - with the touch of a button
• All it takes is a card swipe for money to change hands
• For ages 8 yrs. and up
• For 2-6 People

Call me a killjoy, and I know some people will read this post and think Im an absolute nutcase, but Im going to equate this to violent video games involving weapons and racist slants. I dont think that kids especially elementary and some middle school need to vicariously purchase things with a play debit/credit card machine that distances them from the actual activity of the counting, sorting and arithmetic involved to play this game as it was designed.

Kids are already detached from what it actually takes to earn money, deposit it in an account and then access it to buy things you want-after you have paid for the things you NEED. Here is another bullet Im going to have to dodge. Parents, who are already stretched to the limit at work may overcompensate for their absence in their kids lives by purchasing things for them out of a feeling of guilt--with----The swipe of a credit card!!!!!!

My own kids have said to me, after hearing "No, I have no money to buy that".--"Just use your card!!!!!"---and not understanding the connection of the card being tied to a balance in the bank!!

Let the shooting begin......