Red Light, Green Light!

 Click to see the Ninja Cat!

I don't know about you, but when I was young my parents actually kicked us OUT of the house to play unless it was raining or it was subzero outside and as ingenious children (or simple-minded, take your pick) we would find entertaining things to do alone like floating acorns down storm drains, placing pennies on train tracks, climbing trees and scraping the bejeezus out of our arms and legs. If we were lucky, we had neighbors who joined us and we created little armies that would wear tracks in Mom's garden because we were just too lazy to walk on sidewalks but had so much energy we couldn't possibly sit still long enough to have the PB&J wiped off our faces before we went back outside to play again. These gangs of children were so inventive and we had so many awesome games like Kick the Can, Capture the Flag, Four Square, and during the summer we got to play Ghosts in the Graveyard! But my favorite game was Red Light, Green Light where you had a swarm of kids at one end of an alley/street/yard and one person got to be the traffic light. When the traffic light turned their back on the kids saying "Green Light," they could all try to get as close as possible but as soon as the traffic light turned around and said, "Red Light!" each child had to freeze exactly in place and not move until the traffic light changed. If the kids chasing the light fell or kept chasing the light, they were out. I always sucked at being the light because I would turn around so fast and then became afraid of the gathering stampede and freak out and ended up getting tagged so hard because everyone knew I was going to wimp out so the object was to just run as fast as possible to get to me when I was the light. But I still loved the freezing and posing.  Sometimes kids fell down and then we would point and laugh.

Anyhow, I think that cats love this game too. I know this is a stalking maneuver but have you seen the video on YouTube of the "Ninja Cat?" (see the link above) It's not like it does any attacking when it finally arrives at the destination but look how excited it is when it is approaching the "traffic light." Every time I watch this kitty I laugh out loud because of its ability to practically teleport itself into a closer location each time you peek and act as if it's a statue that never moved. Hilarious. My cats will play this game with me too and it reminds me of the days of when I played it as a child. And the best time creep out your cat and play this game is when they are already irritated from playing some other frustrated game like "where's my food?" They hate that! So, to summarize, I have been able to initiate this game with my little pals and still enjoy the thrill of the chase because being the traffic light is being in control. And now I don't freak out anymore. And I just wonder if anyone still plays this outside because in my neighborhood the kids go outside to chat with each other on their iPhones. I guess it wouldn't be the same if one kid stood there looking at his phone and texted "green light" to the other kids and they approached him (while texting) and then he turned around and texted "red light"...because they probably wouldn't be paying attention anyway.