I’ve had a lot of hucksters try to get in my wallet over the years, but there’s a fast-talking 3-year-old at home this week trying to relieve me of the entire wallet — the leather, the plastic cards and folding cash.

His mother gave him one of her old billfolds, and he must sense that it’s unmanly, unsuitable for a youth of his stature. My ratty old tri-fold is anything but feminine.

Grandson Sam wants to swap, and he’s badgered the fool out of me. He climbs out of bed in the morning talking about my wallet. He greets me when I return home from work with a renewed pitch, and he goes to bed talking about the virtues of the trade.

It’s spring break in Decatur, Ill., and in Round Hill, Va. There are six grandchildren in town this week. We’ve had Easter egg hunts every day. We have ridden tricycles. Set up the tent in the back yard. Cooked hotdogs and operated a circus of entertainment for the week.

At mid-week, Elizabeth and I are exhausted. But I’ve still got my wallet.

Sam’s negotiating skills are amazing.

He has pointed to the sleek lines of his billfold, noting it is larger and capable of holding more money. Trading would be an upgrade … for me, he contends.

I have countered that his billfold is much too big for my pocket. It would jut out, making it easy prey for a pick pocket.

He melted into tears and fell onto the floor when I refused, employing the crying tactic.

Then he turned to religion.

“God is about sharing,” he said. “God wants us to share.”

He’s breaking me down.

•••••

I’ve never fancied myself a tea drinker. Sure, I’ve had a few cups here and there, but I’ve never acquired the taste for hot tea.

Patriotic Americans have drunk coffee since that problem in the Boston Harbor.

But Martha Isenberg of Winston-Salem made tea drinking sound like the smartest thing to do when she presented “Tea 101” at the Clemmons Library on Monday.

Certain teas are good for high blood pressure, the heart, blood veins, bones and cancer fighting. Some teas calm your nerves before bed. Others jazz you up in the morning. African athletes drink rooibos teas like Gatorade, she said.

While the health benefits may not be guaranteed, tea drinkers can certainly find another benefit.

“It’s a very pleasurable thing to do. It’s a very social thing to do,” she said.

I’ll give her that. The Boston patriots were very social when they got together and raided the British ship, dumping the tea into the harbor.

I was fascinated by her tracing iced tea back to the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. The story goes that the hot tea booth was beside the ice booth. On a very hot day, the two merchants combined their products to produce iced tea.

Somebody perfected it by adding sugar.

— Dwight Sparks