The other day my son asked me what “kick the can” meant. He was at a playdate when his friend’s mom told them to go outside and “kick the can.” My son was very confused. “We played tag outside, mom. We never kicked any can. Is it even legal to kick a can?” my son asked in the car on the way home.
Oh, the start of another generation gap. I tried to explain that Kick the Can is just like tag, but with some extra rules. We called it Capture the Flag when I was a kid. My son’s friend has just moved here from Atlanta, so perhaps there was a regional variance. My son has never played Capture the Flag either, so my explaining the game wasn’t helping. I promised him that I would speak to his teacher about coming in one day for PE and teach his class how to play Capture the Flag. Our entire block would play that game for hours in the street, often times without parental supervision.
Oh, the admission of another generation gap. Getting to play outside unsupervised doesn’t exist for today’s youth.
This Saturday, May 26, Santa Teresa’s Historic Bernal Ranch is hosting Wash Day And Old Time Games from 1:30pm-3:30pm. Kids will get to play games from 100 years ago. I can’t wait for my son to see that there really was life before the iPod. There was even life before TV and radio. Lots of fun before there was even electricity. Who knows? Perhaps we’ll find that kids played Kick the Can a hundred years ago too.
