Since last week was the time for ghosts, goblins, and other creatures with Trick or Treating through the town, it is another opportunity to remind folks about keeping our kids safe. I recall running all around my neighborhood as a princess or gypsy collecting all the candy the neighbors would pass out when I was young. I’m sure that one of my parents must have been with me at some point, but I can’t seem to remember how old I was when they stopped accompanying me. I remember how the other kids would stay out late so we could enjoy the last warm evenings as summer faded into fall playing “Ghost in the Graveyard”. Watching the new church building taking shape and playing “King of the Hill” on the huge mounds of dirt was the best for good, “clean” fun.
All that seems so long ago. Today you can’t play in those building sites – liability issues, the threat of thefts of materials and more prohibit using those areas as makeshift playgrounds. Children today may not know their neighbors well enough to run through their yards at night for fear of being attacked by their dogs or maybe the fear of being shot. And trick or treat? Best not be tricking anybody for the same reasons! Instead we can take our children to the mall or on the square. Maybe we find churches offering a harvest or fall celebration, or “trunk or treat” as alternatives. When did the joy start slipping away from childhood? Not that these are bad alternatives, but when did being a child become so dangerous that these alternatives became necessary? When did we lose sight of who are neighbors truly are?
How could anyone hurt a child, an innocent? Yet we know it happens all too often. We have to work harder at being aware parents. Aware neighbors. Aware of how we as a member of our village can help raise a safe, healthy, successful child. Do you recall thinking as a child, “I can’t wait to grow up and get out of this place!” I did – to an extent. It seems though, that the older I became, the more I wanted to return here. When I became a parent, I knew I wanted my children to grow up in Licking County. I remembered the vibrant leaves changing, the beautiful snowfalls, the bags of candy (and it was the good stuff!) and the sense of community at Halloween. I remember Santa coming to Southgate a few weeks later and greeting me in his temporary house. There I was in line with so many other exuberant children, feeling so safe in my community. Let’s be parents, neighbors and families that truly represent “community” in the best sense of the word and watch out for the safety of every child we encounter. We can’t afford to turn our backs on those children, because all too soon, they grow up to become our teachers, our doctors, our firefighters, our neighbors. A safe and healthy childhood is what every child deserves.
All that seems so long ago. Today you can’t play in those building sites – liability issues, the threat of thefts of materials and more prohibit using those areas as makeshift playgrounds. Children today may not know their neighbors well enough to run through their yards at night for fear of being attacked by their dogs or maybe the fear of being shot. And trick or treat? Best not be tricking anybody for the same reasons! Instead we can take our children to the mall or on the square. Maybe we find churches offering a harvest or fall celebration, or “trunk or treat” as alternatives. When did the joy start slipping away from childhood? Not that these are bad alternatives, but when did being a child become so dangerous that these alternatives became necessary? When did we lose sight of who are neighbors truly are?
How could anyone hurt a child, an innocent? Yet we know it happens all too often. We have to work harder at being aware parents. Aware neighbors. Aware of how we as a member of our village can help raise a safe, healthy, successful child. Do you recall thinking as a child, “I can’t wait to grow up and get out of this place!” I did – to an extent. It seems though, that the older I became, the more I wanted to return here. When I became a parent, I knew I wanted my children to grow up in Licking County. I remembered the vibrant leaves changing, the beautiful snowfalls, the bags of candy (and it was the good stuff!) and the sense of community at Halloween. I remember Santa coming to Southgate a few weeks later and greeting me in his temporary house. There I was in line with so many other exuberant children, feeling so safe in my community. Let’s be parents, neighbors and families that truly represent “community” in the best sense of the word and watch out for the safety of every child we encounter. We can’t afford to turn our backs on those children, because all too soon, they grow up to become our teachers, our doctors, our firefighters, our neighbors. A safe and healthy childhood is what every child deserves.
--Jan GreenRiver
Dir. of Prevention & Programs
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