My wife and I were watching some friends’ kids last night so they could go out. The kids are 11 and 9 (almost 10). I contend that what transpired last night was a better education than what they received in school all year. The wife says I am a pyscho. You decide....

We finished dinner and some other friends and neighbors have been bringing us Christmas treats and we had this cake/pie combo thing and there was enough left for basically one and a half slices but not really two full slices.

I have heard a few times recently the one cuts and one picks idea, but I decided to take this to a new level and introduce some game theory. So I handed out the knife to the oldest and said, “you cut and your brother picks which piece he wants. If your brother picks the bigger piece and can’t finish it then you get the rest of his and his dessert for the next week. If you cut them as close to even as possible, then no special rules.”

The oldest sat and thought for like two minutes and the younger one started to get really anxious. The older one eventually decided to cut them evenly and they were both happy.

About 30 Minutes later the older one comes in while I am watching Netflix and says, “do you want to know why I cut it in half?” I said sure.

He goes, “well there was only two choices cut it evenly or give him all the cake, but he didn’t eat breakfast and only had a small lunch, and didn’t eat the crust off his grilled cheese.” Then he leaned in and whispered, “next time we come over though I am going to make sure he eats a lot!”

I was so damn impressed told my wife the story and she called me a pyscho. Told my buddy whose kids we were watching (fellow card player) and he died laughing.

So should we be teaching game theory to kids this young? I was so impressed I said we should have him start dealing our home game and that obviously didn’t go over well with the wives.

I am still claiming my educator of the year title though.