Playing Shop

(Jonty and Emily engaging in cheaper pursuits)

Yesterday Jonty and Emily played shop, using Monopoly money. The game worked like this:

Emily was the shopkeeper. She had no money, but was told she could sell anything in our room. Jonty had about a milllion rand/baht/dollars/whatever-currency-monopoly-money-is.
Jonty would ask how much something cost e.g. a book.
Emily would quote her best price.
Jonty would negotiate her down ... the things our kids learn living in Thailand!
Emily would happily agree to Jonty's price no matter how low it was (e.g.he got a t-shirt for 1 baht).
Jonty would pay her in a huge denomination and then demand his change.
As mentioned, Emily had no money so Jonty would suggest she give him one of her sweets in lieu of cash.
Emily would eagerly hand over her sweets - which, just by the way, she had earned for her progress in swimming - and Jonty would eagerly gobble them up.
Jonty would then demand his money back (because it was his money afterall) and leave the shop.
A few minutes later Jonty would return to the shop to buy more of Emily's wares.
The game continued until Em's sweeties were finished.

Halfway through this game I asked Em if she was enjoying herself. "Its so much fun!" she proclaimed, full of delight.

Obviously handing over all her hard-earned sweets was a small price to pay for the joy of playing with her big brother, but if I were her, I'd have demanded some change!