I was talking to my twin sister recently when she told me a funny story about her beautiful 5 year old son. He has just started attending school and loves to tell his mum tales from his day (because he is a country boy he catches the bus to school so has many tales to tell after the journey!). The other day she asked him about the games he plays at lunch time. He promptly informed her that he plays ‘horses’ with the other kids. He then added that if you are a naughty horse and you jump the fence you get put in to a special pen and get electrocuted!

This conversation made me reflect on the games I played as a child and how these games have changed of the years. When I was in primary school I spent most of my time playing “Mus and Dads” where we always fought over the role of the bossy Mum telling the young children what to do, how to wear their hair and when to get in and out of the car etc. (What a silly game that sounds like now that I am writing it down!)

My daughter, on the other hand, comes from a generation where the concept of the ‘nuclear family’ was starting to dissipate and thus she played “Mums and Sisters” (This was actually called “Mums and Daughters” but she couldn’t understand the difference between a daughter and a sister). This game included the famously bossy mother role without the apparently unneeded father role

And here the latest generation are playing horses. I guess this just shows that our kids’ games clearly reflect our daily lives and the world around us at that point in time. I wonder what games the prep students in the city schools are playing?  What will the games of the future be? And what on earth was the point of Mums and Dads?