You Know…For Kids!

For the last few weeks, I’ve been finding caches that were placed for or with children. As you can imagine, I’m totally simpatico with that. I just recently had to replace a cache that I hid with my daughters that has turned out to be my most frequently found cache, and memories were so thick I had to brush them from my face (if I can steal from The Hudsucker Proxy, why not Field of Dreams also?).

That said, I’m always of two minds when it comes to kids’ caches. On the one hand, they tend to be simple and fun, and that’s what you need when you’re trying to indoctrinate convince new players, especially kids. The parent in me approves. On the other hand, the cacher in me feels less positive about them. They’re usually poorly hidden and made, leading to frequent muggling and deterioration. The Negative Nelly in me usually shuts up in these cases because the cacher in me also realizes the importance of these imperfect caches.

But it raises a question: why are there so few good caches for kids? I know that part of it is that new cachers (kids or parents) don’t have a lot of experience with caching and are passionately but poorly doing the best they can. It’s not like a six-year-old has a workshop and vast amounts of money for materials. Parents rarely have time or expertise to construct something amazing. Even if they did (kid or parent), there’s a time commitment to maintain their creations that even serious cachers have trouble keeping up with (I myself have a cache that I need to replace, but my 3-D printing hookup has been lax of late. There’s my shame, perhaps my sin). This then raises a follow-up question: why don’t experienced cachers build caches for kids? Part of it is the increasing desire to make more difficult caches, but I suspect maintenance is integral to the answer. I think someone more seasoned who puts effort into a cache to make it a more interesting experience is far more likely to make it a premium cache. That preserves the cache and greatly reduces maintenance but puts it out of reach for those who would be most impressed by it.

Do I have better answers to the questions? No. Would it be cool if we started making a few more caches with kids in mind? Sure! Am I rushing out right this second to do that myself? Not at the moment. Am I aware of my hypocrisy? Most assuredly! But maybe the next time I find myself at a craft store, I’ll pick up something that might make for a whimsical container and see what I can do with it. Because caching (like Wu-Tang) is for the children.