Kids

And so here I sit, typing away on my blog wondering what happened in my neighborhood. When we moved in ten years ago this July I recall a comment I made to my wife; "this neighborhood needs more kids". In probably one of the worst examples of "be careful what you wish for", we're now overflowing with plenty of youth. And I can't be more unhappy about it.

Make no mistake, I am not much of a kid guy. I think it had something to do with the way I was brought up, although I cannot be 100% certain. Let's just say that I don't particularly want kids of my own and leave it at that. Don't get me wrong. I don't mind kids, most of the time. I've dealt with kids my whole life. As a football coach, an ice hockey official, and umpire and a teacher I am fairly comfortable in dealing with kids. But perhaps it's those experiences that have given me insight into why I wouldn't choose to have my own.

With the weather turning nicer, our neighborhood has turned into an all-out playground screamfest. The high pitched shrilly screaming that sounds like blood-curdling murder is happening. And we're not talking about "every so often". This weekend it's been constant for like 9 or 10 hours. It has made living here difficult to say the least.

But it also got me thinking; again. What is wrong with kids (in general)? I truly believe it has a lot to do with the parents and/or adults that interact with these kids. And just in case you're a parent, I am speaking in general terms here. There are definitely good parents, good kids and good families. I'm not even saying that these local kids are 'bad' kids. All I'm saying is that if we screamed and yelled and hollered ALL DAY LONG like that when we were kids; well, it wouldn't have happened. Our dad, if not our neighbors first would have put a stop to it after a little while. But nowadays you deal with it because it's not your place to yell at your neighbors kids. And from what I can tell, you don't yell at your own kids. You let them do what they want to do for as long as they want to do it. And that, my friends is the symptom of the greater problem with what I believe is a societal issue. What's all this have to do with running? Absolutely nothing. It's just one of my rare rants on here.

Let me go back to half-marathon weekend two weeks ago in Pittsburgh. Saturday evening we're sitting at PNC Park enjoying a Pirates game. A foul ball is hit back behind the visitors dugout and a fan makes a beautiful catch to the point where he receives a round of applause. Some guy who is sitting about 15 rows in front of him and in the next section over goes up the steps a way and yells to the guy, pointing at a kid who was sitting with him. Now, even though I was sitting too far away to hear what was being said the message was clear. "How about tossing that ball down here for the kid?" The guy who made the outstanding catch flipped the ball to the other guy who then gave it to the kid and he received another round of applause. My point? When I was a kid, it was every man and child for themselves. No adult within 15 feet of me ever caught a foul ball and said, "here you go". Generally speaking I wouldn't have had much of an issue if the kid was sitting within a few feet of this guy, but a section over and that many rows away? What was the message given to that kid? Personally, I think it was, "here you go...people will give you things for no reason at all". It's a symptom. And around here I'm in the midst of an epidemic. Gonna be a long summer....