Logan and his buddies have recently developed a passion for Pokemon cards. They like to trade them with each other at recess and during Latch Key (Don't get me started. It's an awful name for a great after school program.). I am fairly certain they don't have a clear understanding which cards are more valuable. They just figure that the higher the number on the card, the better that card is. And they may be right.
I went on the Pokemon website to try to understand and make sure my kid was making an even trade. Because I'm a girl and I just don't get it. When I was growing up, I was playing barbies, shooting marbles or riding my bike. I didn't trade anything.
Except when my friend Lori and I tried to pretend we were Ponch and Jon on CHiPS and give each other "five" while riding each other's bike. We crashed in the middle of the street and crawled to the side crying like baby girls. We never traded bikes again. (I am quite certain anyone under the age of 35 is thoroughly confused by the Ponch and Jon reference. That was some good TV back in the 70's. They don't make it like that anymore.)
After five minutes on the official Pokemon Trading Card site, I wanted to shoot myself in the head. It was all very confusing and I decided to just let Logan run with it. I would be no help to him.
But he's just not very good at it. One day he started out with 17 cards and when I picked him up after school he somehow magically had 26. When I asked him about it, Logan told me he asked his friends for "free" cards and they gave them to him. Suckers.
I told him not to do that though. Mostly because I'm afraid of getting a phone call
from an irate parent accusing Logan of taking advantage of her kid. Those cards are $6.00 a pack. For ten cards.
I don't need to be worrying about that kind of stuff. I've got enough stress being the mom who always forgets to donate money for the end of the year gifts. And the Christmas gifts. And the Teacher Appreciation gifts. And the Volunteer gifts. The list goes on and on.
But he's just not very good at it. One day he started out with 17 cards and when I picked him up after school he somehow magically had 26. When I asked him about it, Logan told me he asked his friends for "free" cards and they gave them to him. Suckers.
I told him not to do that though. Mostly because I'm afraid of getting a phone call
from an irate parent accusing Logan of taking advantage of her kid. Those cards are $6.00 a pack. For ten cards.I don't need to be worrying about that kind of stuff. I've got enough stress being the mom who always forgets to donate money for the end of the year gifts. And the Christmas gifts. And the Teacher Appreciation gifts. And the Volunteer gifts. The list goes on and on.
A few days later Logan left for school with 56 cards. He returned with 21. Again, not a stellar day in his card trading career.
I tried to explain to him how the object is to trade one card for another card. An even trade. You get one, your friend gets one. To which my kindergartner angrily replied,
"What do you thiiiink? That I'm a pre-schooler???!!"
I tried to explain to him how the object is to trade one card for another card. An even trade. You get one, your friend gets one. To which my kindergartner angrily replied,
"What do you thiiiink? That I'm a pre-schooler???!!"
Yeah, that's exactly what I think. Now go get mommy a drink.
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8 comments:
Been there, done that. They were finally banned at C's school, because, yes, there were some irate parents who apparently spent ALL their time on the pokemon sites looking up trading values.
LOL.
Get Mommy a drink indeed. Snort!
And where have y'all been? I've missed you!
I didn't know those still had value. My son used to love them. He would sit with a huge stack of them and just look through them. One day, a friend of my husbands (who has much older kids) gave me a sack. In it were THOUSANDS of old pokemon cards. My son was in heaven. He never traded them, though.
Random tip that might prove useful:
There is a symbol in the bottom right corner of most cards that gives how rare the card is. A circle = common, a diamond = uncommon, and a star = rare, and some rare cards are holograms, also w. a star symbol.
Very funny. I don't understand either and thankfully my kids are too young to show any interest.
I just bought my daughter her first pack of Pokemon cards last week. Apparently she needs them for our trip to Utah so she can play w/the nephews. I have a feeling I'll be getting hit up for more jobs around the house for her to earn more money for these...
My kid has oodles of them. He took his to school to trade an what not as well. Though I didn't go onto a website, I would get frustrated at him for just giving his cards away. Yes, it's so nice to share...but those babies aren't cheap! Sigh.
BTW....I totally got your CHIPS reference. :0)
Just know you're not going to get rich off of Pokemon and let the "cards" fall where they may. And, stop treating him like a pre-schooler! Sheesh!
They band pokemon cards at my daughters school and then there was the marble kerfuffel, which led to marbles being banned because the kids weren't trading fairly.
BTW I remember the CHiPs show, Starsky & Hutch, Emergency, 240 Robert and a few others. Oops now I am showing my age. I would rather watch the hokey reruns than some of these stupid reality shows that are on now.
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