We went to the playground tonight and I need to stop doing that. We had a fun time with the boys. We put them in the bike trailer and rode over and let them play for a quick 15 minutes because the weather was so nice. Here is why I need to stop doing that. Just before the park I stopped at a stop sign (good thing to do) but the two kids behind me (on one bike) did not, they just flew right by in front of the oncoming POLICE car. The officer didn’t even stop and say something to them. He wasn’t in a hurry either, he pulled into the playground parking lot turned around and left. These kids were probably 10 and they don’t respect a stop sign. If they looked (I hope they did or they’ll be dead pretty soon) then they don’t respect the law either. This week they are running stop signs on their bikes, next week it’ll be in a car and they’ll kill someone. I wish the officer had stopped and simply explained to these boys the importance of stopping at a stop sign (oh, and wearing helmets since it’s a law in this town for everyone under 18.) Why do they bother passing the laws if they aren’t going to enforce them. These kids now know they can get away with breaking both of these laws (even when the police are present).

While at the park an older kid walked past a trash can and no more than 5 seconds later dropped his food wrapper onto the ground with no thought. I almost jumped up and tore into him, but I refrained. I was still grumpy about the police officer doing nothing. The playground is nasty there is trash everywhere. There is no respect for anything in this town.

On a separate note. I saw a child still teetering on his legs and still in a diaper (probably about monkey’s age (18 mos) drinking a brown carbonated liquid (full of sugar and probably caffeine) out of a bottle. What? See dear, a little Kool-Aid is okay for the kids. I’m sure it’ll do less harm than the Coke in the Bottle.

Photo by pfly.