Parenting is often very hard work. I know because I watch TV. Just recently I had the opportunity to teach my son a very important, but painfull lesson.
First off, I have two Roomba floor sweeping robots. A roomba Red and a Roomba Discovery. My son had taken them up to his room to do some "cleaning". As it turned out, "cleaning" meant having an illegal Roomba fight in his room. I was surprised by his actions.
"Son" I said, "What are you doing?"
"uh, having a Roomba fight"
I could see that he had money behind his back.
"And are you taking bets from your brother and sister?
"Yes dad" He said sheepishly.
I looked at him with my best dad face.
"And what have I told you about taking bets in the house?"
"That I need more than two betters so that I make sure I still come out ahead."
"Yes son, that's right." I assured him. "What are you giving for odds?"
"4:1 against Roomba Discovery"
I was disappointed in his decision to make such odds.
I felt like I had not been doing my job as a dad.
This is where the real lesson began.
"So you don't think Discovery can take Red?"
"No, Red is heavier"
"Ah, I see" I knodded my head. "I'll take those numbers. Put 5 on Discovery to win"
I knew the smile on his face would be gone soon.
In the end, Discovery did win and the boy learned a valuable lesson. You need to know more about the fighters than stats. You should look inside at what makes them tick. See, I knew that Red had a bad wheel position sensor, I've had to work on it before. Knowing that, I could safely bet on Discovery because Red would be doing a circle dance within the first round. So I took from my son what was to him a small fortune and he became a better odds maker as a result of it.
roomba
roomba fight
parenting
gambling
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