Remember those childhood days when your mom would nag at you for playing too much and not studying enough?

Now’s your chance to prove to her that those times spent playing were not for nothing.

We played those games with youthful abandon, without realising that the skills would one day come in handy. Boasting strong biceps now? It’s all thanks to the monkey bars. Great at problem solving? Could be the result of those teenage Tetris days.

If you’re a disgruntled adult looking for more evidence to prove your mom wrong, here are other childhood games that totally helped to develop certain life skills.

Catching

Life lesson: To run… fast and away from danger

As most people’s favourite childhood game, Catching played a part in building our short distance running skills.

Just like how we sprinted from “house” to “house” to avoid the catcher, the same could be applied to real life — running from one safe place to the next to escape an attacker.

And if it does happen, remember to put those leg muscles to good use.

Ice and water

Life lesson: Teamwork

The objective of the game was to “melt” as many players as possible whenever any of them was touched by the “freezer”. In order to win, we had to look out for ourselves as well as work together to make sure everyone got “melted” in time.

Because this game involved a collective win, it forced us to be team players, and to look out for one another.

And we all know how important it is to be a team player in real life. Just count the number of times this trait gets mentioned at job interviews.

Hide and Seek

Life lesson: Think out of the box

Spots like the closet and under the bed were usually the seeker’s first places to search, so over time, we learned to hide at more obscure places in order to outsmart the seeker.

Think carefully and creatively if you’re ever trapped somewhere with a serial killer. It may sound like a ridiculous statement now, but you never know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .

Besides being concealed, a good hiding spot should also not be too enclosed (if not you’ll end up getting trapped or worse, suffocate), and should preferably have a cell phone signal.

Hopscotch

Life lesson: To plan ahead

The first round of Hopscotch was always easy. The real challenge began when we started marking boxes with our wallets, because it meant that we had to plan our route properly.

Hopping from one end to the next while trying to avoid the occupied boxes definitely trained our legs as well as our strategising abilities. And trust us, this is one ability that is extremely useful in many aspects of life.

In school and at work, this ability helps us in organising and executing project assignments. In emergencies, it helps us plan an escape route properly. An escape route that could make or break our chances of survival.

Broken telephone

Life lesson: Don’t anyhow spread messages / better listening skills

To win, a message passed from the first player to the last had to contain as little distortions as possible. How many times have you heard hilarious permutations of the original message when playing this?

In both the game and in life, we should make sure to not distort messages and spread the wrong thing. But of course in life, it’s always better to receive information from the source instead of the grapevine.

In case you haven’t realised, knowing when to run away, relying on teamwork, being creative in hiding and not spreading rumours are all essential skills to have in the event of a terror attack.

Just be glad you already had practice.

Top image via Getty Images.

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Even in games, there’s something useful to learn. And these skills you acquired from games could come in handy in the event of a real terror attack.

If you want to know more of what you could do in times of crisis, download the SGSecure app on iTunes or Google Play.

This sponsored post in collaboration with SGSecure gives Mothership.sg’s writers an excuse to relive old memories and play those childhood games again.