On a recent camping trip, our children quickly disappeared into the biker gang that always emerges at campgrounds.  You know the kind I’m talking about – mostly two-wheeled, with the occasional training wheeled members.  They spent a lot of time at the nearby playground, deeply immersed in a game they made up.  As we had a campfire, my husband and I were happy to sit around it and watch the playground antics from a distance.

We stayed a couple of days longer than most of the other families, so gradually, all the other kids disappeared but ours.  Our children, desperate to get back to some of that fun, roped my husband and I in to this game.

Playing kid games

Monkeys in the mulch.  That was the name of it.  Because that made sense.

Nope, the rules didn’t make much more sense.

First, the person that was “it” (really?  that’s the best they could do?  it?) would close their eyes, cover their eyes, spin around in a circle and count to ten.  All the rest of the players would find spots on the playground equipment.  Not hiding spots, because frankly, there were none.  Just spots far from the main point of entrance, the main ladder.  Then the player that was “it” would uncover their eyes, making the previous step of closing and covering their eyes while spinning around in a circle, completely moot.  “It” would generally approach the main ladder, but could really enter the playground equipment at any point.  Then, once stepping foot on the playground equipment, had to close their eyes again.  Then walk the playground equipment with their eyes shut.

While the “it” would try to catch any of the other players, the players could run all over trying to avoid not only detection, but the touch that then made them “it”.  They could step off the playground equipment and run to another section of it (it was all connected).  All while the poor “it” stumbled around, stubbing toes, trying not to fall down stairs or slides, reaching blindly for the lazy soul that didn’t move fast enough.

However, if the person that was “it” yelled out “MONKEYS IN THE MULCH” and their happened to be a player in the mulch running around the playground equipment, that person became “it” and the round was over.  Unless the player was standing on the black mat that was at the base of the slides.  That’s the safe zone?  It had mulch on it……just saying.

I watched my husband play with our kids a few rounds before I joined in on the fun.  I couldn’t help it – it was too hilarious to watch my husband stumble around the playground like a zombie trying not to smash his face on something.  Then watch my daughter obviously cheat.

You know what?  It was fun.  It made zero sense, from the person that was “it” having to do spins in the mulch, to the name of it.  My adult sense of rationality questioned many parts of it, but once I could let go and just appreciate the spirit of it, I enjoyed crushing my family immensely by my ability to avoid being tagged.

What I loved about it was the randomness of the rules that told you many kids tried to skirt them and new rules had to be established.  You could almost sense the disagreements and compromises that took place during the development of this game.

And it was a good lesson for my husband and I to indulge in kid games more often.  Let go of the rules we know because it isn’t about making sense, or even winning.  It was about having fun with our kids.