Two Views

Outside air temperature is better this week. I have been seeing some readings in the high 60’s. Good for sitting on the darkened porch late at night and watching the night sky and the world drift by.

There are actually people walking the sidewalk around lake at that late time of night. Some young kids too. I think parents never send their grade school children to bed at a decent time. Midnight seems to me a bad time to leave your kids roaming in the dark, far from home. I think Frisco needs a student curfew and the resolve to enforce it. People pack their days so full of activity; it is probably the only time available in their “schedule” busy lives.

I used to go out walking or riding a bike after dark in the fall and wintertime in Ohio. But it was never just to play in the dark. I was out because I was traveling to church youth or a (Boy Scout) meeting and it was never latter than 9:00 PM. Neighborhoods were friendly places and people knew who you were and where you lived. There were a lot of streetlights too. The general family play rule was if the streetlights were on, you better be home or in the yard playing. Parents didn’t “deliver” their kids to neighborhood events.

The extreme to this is organized kids sports. They have gotten so out of hand that the “sports fields” in my area have their lights on until 11:00 PM with scheduled little kids games until then. Parents must take their kids to these events as a symbol of active parenting. This is on school nights. Give me a break! no! give the kids (and parents) a break! 

On another view, in the daylight…

I saw a news report on a Dallas TV station a few days ago. While the driver was inspecting his city bus after finishing a run, an 11 year old was found asleep in the rear seat. It was still daylight. The bus driver woke the child and the company called the parents. The youngster was returned safely home; a non-incident.

An Idiot TV cub reporter got hold of this event and was trying to put a negative “spin” on the story. She was raising questions in her report such as, “Why was such a young person riding the bus alone?” “Why did the bus company permit the young person to come aboard?” “Why doesn’t the bus company have a “policy” against this?” This reporter even carried the story to the Board of Child Welfare and interviewed an employee there about what kind of legal action should be taken against the parents. “This must be a sure sign of child neglect.” She touted.

My response is, “Hogwash!”

Does there now need to be an age limit to ride a bus? Times have changed but we still have to let our children experience life. How do we build maturity into our children if we think every situation is too dangerous for them to endure? Is every city bus filled with sexual perverts? Of course the decision about the age kids travel should be with the parents, not some spin artist TV reporter. Kids have ridden public transportation forever.

I was that same age when I traveled the bus every Saturday to go to and from the YMCA. It was located in the center of the city where I lived. My wife as a kid, rode the bus alone to the same downtown area to take music lessons. We didn’t and couldn’t use our parents as private bus drivers in those days.

For a reporter to try and make an issue of this non-incident bus ride is a sign of how low the media will stoop to create fabricated sensational reporting. It must have been a slow day for the reporter and the station that aired it. Maybe the whole world should only be filled with adult bus riders.