$7 BAK = $25 USD

What do you do if you are third grader and you have dozens of Bakugan characters but no real money?  Easy… you turn Bakugan into a currency for exchanging goods and services on the playground.

I have watched my nearly 9 year old this school year get his first lessons in real world economics.  He started the year with 3 Bakugan that he had either purchased with allowance money or had been given as gifts.  Within a few weeks he had turned those 3 Bakugan into 21 (that’s a 700% return in case you weren’t keeping track).  Needless to say, I was impressed.

It get’s better though.  One day after school he shows up with a Nintendo DS.  Apparently he had traded 5 Bakugan for it.  This was one of the newer DS’s and probably worth about $75 on Craigslist.  After talking to the other boy’s mother we had a chat with Chad about making sure his trades were fair.  The next day they traded back.  Chad was upset but understood that he should not take advantage of other people and that a trade should be fair to both people.

That’s not the end of the story though.  Yesterday, Chad shows up with another Nintendo DS.  This time it is an older DS that is in pretty bad shape (he doesn’t care).  After a little prodding he tells me that he traded 7 Bakugan for it.  This time the trade is more fair so I decided to let him keep the DS this time.  He was pretty excited.  (We’ll see what happens if the other boy’s mom calls.)

If you asked me what the most important thing Chad has learned in school this year is I would tell you it was the lesson of economics.  The lesson of, “If he has something I want and I have something he wants let’s make a deal so we both get what we want.”  This a real world, powerful life lesson.  Sure, multiplication, cursive, earth science, etc are all important, but the lessons on the playground may be the most beneficial to Chad in the long run.