Have a Little Faith Mom, Especially in Kids

Yesterday we went to the skate park.  Aaron has been interested in learning for a long time and finally got a board for his birthday this year.  He's been practicing his balance and he's definitely becoming more confident on it but we took his scooter instead because he has to keep one foot on the ground more often than not.  He actually got to go twice yesterday because my Mom took him after supper as well and that time he tried out his bike. 

Hunter didn't have anything to ride but he ran and ran and ran.  It was fairly quiet because we went over at 12:30 and my best guess is that the regular patrons (ahem) weren't out of bed yet.  At least, that would have been me at that age during summer holidays and I don't think much has changed.  There was only one other guy there, who drove over, and he practiced on his board.  It was helpful to see that he was practicing because we constantly have to remind Aaron that practice is what will help him get better.  My only complaint is that the guy didn't have a helmet - Mom.

Anyway, as I watched Aaron scoot along, I discovered the familiar, though not always welcome, feeling of "I want to do that too!"  I generally prefer to play rather than watch - except baseball.  I watched the Jays win the world series back in 1992 and I was on a baseball team once in grade five but as a general rule, it's the only game I cannot stand - bores me silly.  I can watch both football and hockey without an inkling of a desire to play either because I watch professional sports and well, as if I want to try and get into that mix.

Skateboarding though... well that looks like fun.  While we were there, aside from the one guy on a board, there was a couple of other boys who came over with their bikes.  They practiced in the ... uh, bowl? ... not up on lingo yet, but they did that (and I just Googled it - bowl it is).  So when Aaron finally decided to take a break, two hours later, he had seen both a boarder and some bikes.  When Mom took him back there later, he wanted to take his bike.

My only request was that he stay out of the "hole" (because I didn't think of bowl until this morning) and he agreed.  So Mom took him, thrilled to be the first one to let him use his bike there.  Now my Mom watches a lot of news.  The media can, and does, use shock value to get ratings - because that's what actually gets ratings.  We all know that bullying is a problem - if it's happening.  My Mom believes that every kid who is younger than eighteen is likely a bully. Check this out.

So Mom is walking the dog (her son, often referred to as mine and my sister's sibling but not accepted as such by either of us - he's not our dog) not far from the park but not exactly close either and notices that something had happened.  She had been "picking up dog (poo) at the time" but could see something was amiss.  Anyway, to her complete and total surprise, a bigger kid had gone straight over to Aaron (he had wiped out on the bike) and asked if he was okay.  This seemed perfectly reasonable to me but my Mom was shocked.And when she indicated as much, she says "Well you see it on the news all the time."

This is why I don't watch the news.  I know I need to keep up on things but that's why I have Twitter and why I have always preferred newspapers to network news: because I can read what I want to based on the headline.  The broadcasts are sensationalized due to the demand for ratings. Sure, there have been too many instances of bullying that the media blew up everyone's butts - but think about it - that's because kids helping out other kids on a daily basis doesn't bring the viewers in. 

Kids are not all bad.  Sure there's a few dipsticks out there, but there always was and there probably always will be.  I take my kids to the park to participate in their enjoyment, and be available in case something happened sure, but I don't expect something bad to happen.  I was scared of Scooby Doo type vans my entire childhood thanks to my Mom's irrational fear that inside each one lurked a child predator. 

Now I'm not saying that we don't have to make our children aware of potential dangers because that's going too far in the other direction.  What I am suggesting is that we talk with our kids.  "How was your day? How do you like your new friends? What do you do together? Do you know how to respond to a bully?" And choose our advice accordingly.  I'm no psychologist (as I've mentioned) but do you need to warn your kids to the point that they're scared of leaving the house?  No. Everyone is a stranger before they become a friend (or husband) - think how the human race would fare if we didn't recognize that.  Good people are lurking around every corner too.  We need to have some faith in humanity, most especially in kids.