Tuesday, July 10, 2007

The Park

I take my kids to the park almost every day. I have lots of reasons for this. First, I am no longer the pasty white color that I was when I arrived here from Germany. Second, the kids aren't either. Third, they can run around and get their energy out. Fourth, they sleep much better at night when they have played hard for over an hour. Fifth, I'm not stuck in the house all day with them bouncing off of the walls.

We have a specific park that we go to. It has a fence around it, we have friends that live close by, and it has shade for me to sit under. It also has pretend roads in it for the kids to ride bikes on. On post there are rules about how old kids need to be, to be without parental supervision. Now, before I start on my little tirade, there are some kids that are really responsible at a young age, and there are those who at even 12 need parental supervision. Yesterday while at the park, there was a boy there. We've seen him before, and there is never a parent there to watch him. Ever. I know which house he lives in, but never a parent out there with him. Maybe they think that because they live so close they don't need to go out and watch him. And I know that there are those that think that because we live on post, we are safe. Which we are to some extent. Well, this kid that I'm talking about is only 5. His parents are never watching him. There is another one that is 9, they also live close to the park, and never a parent to be seen.

The weather here is very hot, even if we are getting a lot of rain. Yesterday this five year old came up to me and told me he was thirsty. Well, I bring stuff for me and my kids, but I don't have anything that he can drink out of. I don't even know his name!! I felt bad, but I told him to go home and get a drink. He said some other things to me, and I told him to go home too. I can't remember what he asked for. I'm at the point that I'm going to call the MP's and ask them to patrol the park. I don't understand why parents cannot watch their kids. I bring stuff to do at the park all the time. I always have a book, my cross stitch, or something that I need to do. I bring snacks and drinks. I know that there are different parenting styles. But I think that being with your kids and making sure they are safe should fall into every style that there is. I've had to ask (ok, I told them) some kids to leave because they were yelling at each other, and saying things that I didn't want my kids to hear. Maybe this is the price I have to pay for taking my kids to the park. But I think I am going to look up the MP's number and make a call today or tomorrow. These parents need to be responsible for their kids.

4 comments:

flip flop mama said...

I agree. You should say something so that that kid can be safe. Some parents...There's always little kids playing by them selves on our playground in our apartment complex...kids that don't live anywhere near the playground. It doesn't make sense to leave little kids unattended like that...

wendy said...

I have to say, sometimes those rules really irritate me. BUT in our military housing, the MPs do patrol, and we've had neighbors get in big bad trouble for letting underaged kids play outside with supervision.

What I don't get is why the big kids are allowed to be out and about at all hours of the night. I'm considering a tattle-tale call of my own. This morning I found a boys bike tied way up high in our tree. Why?

Kayris said...

I can't comment specifically about the safety of military bases. I do agree that 5 is too young to be at a park alone. 9 years, could depend more on the kid, the area, the time of day, etc. I just read an article in our paper the other day about kids and safety and how parents of this generation are too afraid of pedophiles and abductions to let their kids do anything independant. But the fact is that child abductions and abuse cases have actually declined over the years, and your child is more likely to be injured in a car accident. It's a tough call as a parent to know where to draw the line. It doesn't do any good to keep kids trapped inside either. When my dad was a kid, he and his brothers would take off on their bikes and be gone literally all day. My grandma figured they'd come home when they got hungry. Anyone who didn't know where their kids were all day now would probably be in deep trouble with the authorities these days.

Jennifer @ Fruit of My Hands said...

I hate the park...I always seem to end up at the ones with the competitve parents who just want to talk about whose kid walked first. Ugh.

BTW-You have been tagged.