Forgive me, but I need to vent for a minute. About an hour ago, I got back from a Taco Bell run to find out that I was just a few minutes behind the school bus. Kids were all over my neighborhood, and by all over I literally mean all over. They weren't just on the sidewalks and cutting across neighbors' lawns. They were in the middle of the street as well. Every time that I thought I had an opening to drive another five feet forward, another child would walk out in front of my car, their back to me, without even looking for oncoming traffic.Now when I was their age or even younger, I was taught the basics of safety by my teachers, my parents, and McGruff the Crime Dog. Stop, look, and listen at train tracks. Stop, drop, and roll if I'm ever on fire. Don't talk to strangers. Don't accept rides from strangers. Don't take candy from strangers, and--here's the source of my contention today--look both ways before crossing the street.
I don't think that schools teach those lessons anymore. They've become so focused on standardized testing that they no longer care about the fundamentals. Yes, the ABC's are important, but if a kid gets killed because he ran into oncoming traffic, it's not going to matter if he could read and write. I know a lot of teachers probably think that parents should be responsible for teaching those things, but those teachers have never met the parents in my neighborhood. We're talking about parents who sit by while their kids play in the sewers and stuff dog feces in their neighbor's mail box. None of these parents will ever win awards for Mother or Father of the Year. If they won't teach their kids to look both ways or to stop, drop, and roll, who will? I'd like to think that McGruff the Crime Dog would, but, based on what I saw today, I'm starting to think that McGruff has been "McBanned."
The longer I stay here, the longer a deserted island is looking better and better. I'm allergic to fish so I'd have to live on coconuts and bugs, but at least I wouldn't have to play the What are the Brats Going to Do Now Game on a daily basis. While I can avoid the traffic problem by staying put when school lets out, I can't do anything about the next pile of poo that they're going to throw at me. Unfortunately, in my case I'm sure that it will be a literal pile of poo and not just a figurative one. Heck, maybe that's what McGruff is passing out these days instead of coloring books. It might explain the ban.
Okay. Vent over.
