How to improve your child's maths.

So I'm sitting there with my lad, watching the arrers on the telly. He's nine. And he loves darts. (Had to get him a board for Christmas and naturally, I "have" to play against him every day. Fatherly duties and all that.)

Anyway, like I was saying, we were watching the World Matchplay last night, just the two of us. First off he asks what those women do who walk with the players onto the stage before leaving as the match is about to start. He gets the usual response in such circumstances of, "Ask your Mother". I kinda guess he's going to learn soon enough about the allure of the fairer sex, particularly those with pouty lips who wear low cut dresses and have legs that seem to go on forever, so he really didn't need an explanation from me.

Then, halfway through the first leg and completely out of the blue, he asks me to give him a three figure number.

"120", I say.

"Treble 20 / 20 / Tops", he says. "Give me another".

"Ok then", I say. "170".

He sighs slightly, looking bored, and scornfully says, "Treble 20 / Treble 20 / Bull". He then looks at me as if I'm a complete twat and says, "Give me a harder one, Dad".

Right then. I'll show the little oik. "137. And be quick about it."

Like a flash, back comes the response: "Treble 18 / Treble 17 / Double 16".

By now I'm quite impressed, but don't want to show it. So I change the subject..."Who do you fancy in this one then?", I ask.

"Quite fancy Wade, Dad, but I wouldn't back him at the odds".

What the ****!?! What am I creating? He'd only gone and checked on the internet. Now I know he's aware of betting, and I don't have a problem with that in itself. Since he took a vague interest his mental arithmetic has come on leaps and bounds. But even so. Where had he gained some sort of appreciation of value? Actually I ask that question and I know full well the answer. I'd explained it myself to him. Not sure if I'm educating him or corrupting him.

Should someone call Social Services?

Wednesday's Betting

Ended up being a decent day again, despite a shocking afternoon for Winning Racing Tips (0/3). The Market Examiner were the same (0/3), and a small loss for On The Nose who did manage to get one to place.

Sportyy's nightmare continued (0/2 which included a big bet on a 0.6/1 shot that went down). I'll write some thoughts on Sportyy soon, and in the meantime pray that the horiible run they're currently on comes to an end soon.

So where did the profit come from. Well, On The Oche's strong week continued, including another great 2/1+ winner (Terry Jenkins to beat van Barneveld - 2.1/1) and Service X came good overnight with four winners. Fortunately, with the way the services are staked, it all added up to a nice, if unspectacular profit on the day.