• Home • Our Products • Fund Raising • Contact Us • Newsletter • About Us • Payment Options • Site Map • Personalized Products Dir • 

                      May 2004 - Innovations Newsletter

Where Are Our Children Supposed To Play?

A few days ago I saw the following on a local TV newscast:

A young reporter was standing at the end of a city street. The camera was panning back and forth showing potholes, broken pipes, a broken fence and other sights of neglect. There was also a fast flowing stream on the other side of the broken fence.

The reporter was telling the story about the tragic death of a boy who was playing at this location with his younger sister. He fell in and the current swept him away. His younger sister ran for help, but by the time a neighbor fished the boy out of the water, he was dead.

The gist of the story was that this road was neglected and the death wouldn’t have occurred if the road was properly maintained. The reporter stressed that no charges would be made against the parents.

OK, but here’s the rest of the story. The little boy was four years old. His younger sister was two years old! Mommy was home, but at the other end of the street not supervising her children.

When did a four year old become mature enough to be allowed to supervise a two year old, away from their parents, in an area that was unsafe? Has the world moved on and left me behind?

Here’s another one that happened at the gas station where I used to buy gasoline.

A mother pulled up to the gas pump and got out of her car. She left the engine running and her two small children strapped in their car seats in the back. While she was getting ready to fill up the tank, a car thief jumped in the car and drove off with her children.

Fortunately, another motorist witnessed the theft and followed the thief. Eventually the thief got tired of the chase, or realized he had two extra passengers. He stopped, put the kids on the sidewalk and then took off with the car. The kids were brought back safely to their mother.

By the way, I’m not coming down on you moms. It just happens these two stories were about children and their mothers. Dads do dumb things too!

I just had a horrible thought … can you imagine a new TV show about dumb things that parents do to or with their children?

I live in a beautiful apartment complex about a mile off Interstate 75 (which is like driving in the Indy 500 anytime day or night). You’d never know I75 was so close. I have trees, a little river and until recently peace and quiet.

Over the past few months many of the former residents have moved out and been replaced, apparently, by people with a lot of children! Many of the families are from India and stay to themselves. I always say Hi and try to be friendly, but it is taking a long time for them to trust me.

Our quiet little refuge away from the city is getting noisy, filling up with trash and our cars are now targets for whatever is being thrown around by the newly arriving children.

I realized how things had changed when I drove by one of our side parking lots and it was filled with children. The strange thing was that along with the children were several adults supervising them. They were all from India in traditional garb and they were making sure that nothing bad was happening. The lot was also empty so no cars could be damaged. The kids were having fun.

I also see them walking, chatting and laughing with their children. The kids are never sent outside to fend for themselves.

On the other hand the American children moving in are unsupervised and running amuck in our once quiet sanctuary. They are a big contrast to the well behaved, supervised Indian children.

When I was growing up I lived in a cramped three story apartment on the third floor. My sister and I had to be quiet and be careful we didn’t disturb the neighbors below. We were very limited in what we could do outdoors also. It was not a lot of fun for two little kids.

My parents realized this and moved to a home they bought out of the city. I didn’t understand why at the time and resented the move for years. I’ve never felt at home anywhere since that move. In order to do this my dad worked three jobs, something I’ve finally come to appreciate after many years of working for a living.

There I had the freedom to come and go without too much attention from the neighbors who were a reasonable distance away from us.

The apartment complex where I live is not the place to raise children. We have a swimming pool, tennis courts and laundry room. There is no safe place for a child to run and play. They cannot go to the swimming pool unsupervised and playing unsupervised in the streets and parking lots is dangerous. (If you’ve ever been to Atlanta you know how crazy the drivers are here!)

What are these kids going to do this summer when school is out? What is the solution?

I don’t know what the answer is. Everyone can’t buy their own home in the country and have one parent or family member stay home and supervise their children. Day care is expensive and you have to be very careful where you place your precious little ones.

About all I can suggest is that we take a lesson from my Indian neighbors. Take walks with our kids, do things with them, protect them as best we can so they will grow up to do the same for their children. Hope and pray that they get our message and pass along our wisdom to their children.

And now for this months sites:

Show Support for Our Military

Whether you agree with what is happening or not, please show your support for our young people who are in harm’s way. May is the sixth National Military Appreciation Month. Events are scheduled across the country. You can get more information and event schedules at:

Water Safety and Kids

In our May we also celebrate National Safe Kids Week (May 1-8) with this years theme concentrating on water safety. More information is available at:

Children Who Write

“Children Who Write is a company that provides a safe place for children to express themselves through writing absolutely free. We ask that all children get permission from their parents or guardians before submitting any of their writing.

CWW further encourages every child to read; as we feel that reading is an essential part of writing and is a huge stepping stone into their future as both, adults and authors.”

The above was quoted from their home page. If you have a budding writer in your home, it’s worth a look.

Disaster Preparedness for Kids

Here’s a government website designed to educate and entrain small children about a very serious topic: Disaster Preparedness. There welcome page says the following:

“Welcome to FEMA for Kids! I'm Herman, the spokescrab for the site. This site teaches you how to be prepared for disasters and how you can prevent disaster damage. You can also learn what causes disasters, play games, read stories and become a Disaster Action Kid. A story about my search for a disaster-proof shell is great reading, too! Disasters aren't fun, but learning about them is!”

Who says our government doesn’t have a sense of humor.

Do You Use Google for Searches?

If you do, try this site. It combines all the various features of Google into one “portal” type screen. Great time saver if you use several of Google’s features.

I Love You All The Time

Is a charming little book for children written by two sisters that we just added to our site. One of the special things they have done is work with the military to get their books in the hands of young children whose daddies and mommies are deployed overseas. It’s one way of letting their little ones know they are loved and not forgotten.

That’s it for this month. A few days ago we lost one of our main computer systems and have been putting things back together again. We got most everything restored except our email records for the past three years which so far we haven’t recovered. That won’t happen again!

C U in June.