China Doll Children
A crossing guard at every block. School is back to be sure.
Society has become too careful with the children. I think it’s a combination of relatively new
parents and 24 hour news channels. We
are trained to be as fearful when it comes to the children as we are when it
comes to terrorists.
And I can see the temptation for falling into the trap. If you don’t do as the alarmist newscasters
tell you, you’ll be a bad parent.
There’s lots of pressure on there.
But it also sometimes means that society doesn’t think too highly of the
children’s intelligence.
Going back to the crossing guards. We have a cross walk… stop signs on the
corner… warning signs telling motorists that you’re entering a school zone… the
constant parental barrage upon their child to “make sure to look both ways
before crossing the street.” And still,
we need to hire people to stand at every intersection with hand held stop
signs.
Not only do we consider the kids to be stupid… but we’re
saying motorists are stupid as well.
What the addition of the crossing guard means is that we feel a motorist
will ignore the school zone sign… and ignore the regular stop sign… and ignore
the crosswalk… and, oh yeah, ignore the human being in the middle of the
neighbourhood road!
It’s not like these schools are on the side of the highway.
We just have too many safeguards when it comes to the
kids. So much so that it actually makes
them stupid. At what point is a kids
supposed to develop some street smarts?
School buses are just as bad. It’s as if they’re driving hazardous waste
through our city streets. The second the
bus stops, out comes the flashing lights and stop signs. And the penalty for driving by a bus in this
condition is pretty near that of actually hitting someone while you’re
drunk.
So for those few minutes when the bus pulls over, all the
world stops. And oblivious children
scamper around the bus and into parents clutches. Because, oh yes… even though we legally force
the world to come to a standstill, parents don’t trust that their children will
be safe… and they stand guard at the street corner, ready to scoop up the
little ones before harm comes to them (half a block from home in a residential
neighbourhood).
And I get it. I know
children are parents greatest treasure and nobody wants to see any harm come to
any kid. But we’re so worked up over the
danger that, realistically, barely even exists, that we’re seeing children that
are either (a) completely afraid to be anywhere but in their own yard or (b) so
completely sheltered that they are oblivious to anything in the real world.
When I was a kid, I was told not to play in busy streets,
watch for cars, don’t accept rides from strangers… and that was about it. In fact, I don’t even remember being told not
to accept rides from strangers. I assume
mom and dad told me that one… but I may have picked it up from Sesame Street
instead. I don’t know.
I played in the woods… and lived. I took part in many a season of street
hockey… not one impact with a car’s fender.
I ventured off to seashores and explored tidal pools without meeting my
end in the briny deep.
And you’ll hear people say the world was safer than. But from what I’ve heard and read, the
statistics say things are actually safer now.
And this is where 24 hour news networks take blame. One Amber Alert in the entire country takes
top headlines away from military conflict in Libya.
I’m not saying having a three year old kidnapped isn’t a
serious matter. But I don’t think it’s a
sign of the apocalypse either. How many
thousands of parents are investing in greater home security across the nation
because of one isolated occurrence? In
fact, Canada averages about five Amber Alerts a year. Each one a horrible thing I’m sure… but it
hardly appears that our children are being taken on epic levels.
And in 2009, there were a total of 50 cases of abduction
reported nation wide. This includes
strangers, close friends and parental abductions. So that works out to one case per week in the
entire country.
The point of all this is, the children are safe. The crossing guard is probably not
necessary. The baby on board sign in the
back window of your car is a waste of time.
Renewed calls for capital punishment whenever an Amber Alert is issues
is going off the deep end. And a child
walking along a neighbourhood sidewalk without parental supervision should not
be an alarming thing. Oh yes… and the
final point… sometimes all news channels are simply horrible.
MONDAY…
--- Some cleaning up again today… storage room and such… and
off to Cora’s for lunch. Fairly quiet
afternoon/evening as it’s cool and cloudy today.
TUESDAY…
--- Lots of running around.
Sears, Dufresne, United Furniture… checking out appliances and sofas.
--- Lunch at a pub.
--- Some cleaning supplies and paint bought.
--- Supper at home and a walk of the pond.
WEDNESDAY…
--- A Russian hockey team gone. Shocking news about a plane crash with a team
on board.
--- Physio and work around the house continues. Mom and dad do a lot during their time here…
it would take me a good month to have done this all on my own.
--- Red Lobster for supper… some Modern Family on TV in the
evening.
THURSDAY…
--- Mom and dad are gone.
We watch a little TV together than I drop them at the airport around
11:30. Rest of the day is quiet at
home. Some TV, a bit of a nap, a walk,
and a ball game.
FRIDAY…
--- Walk the pond… three laps. See a Praying Mantis on my travels… and a
baby loon steals a fish from another baby loon as they swim along. I’ll miss the closeness of this pond when I
move. For sure will pop by for a stroll
around it from time to time.
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