Yesterday, tragedy hit too close to home when a man went to a mall with a gun and started shooting randomly, killing three people before police killed him. The mall was a mile from where we used to live, and the man was shot at the spot we used to let the kids ride the kiddie rides outside the entrance to Target and the movie theater. It freaks me out to think that families just like ours were there enjoying an afternoon out. It doesn't help to go through life thinking that something like that could happen, but it does make me think about how my parents or gradnparents may not have had to think about things like that when taking their kids to the store, school, or the playground. It's tough being a parent.
There seems to be a lot of discussion lately about whether it's tougher being a parent now or back in the "olden days". I think it's a tough comparison for anyone to make - as a kid, it looked like an easy job. Now that I'm on the other side, I think I was wrong. Times and challenges may change, but tough is tough. Luckily, it's the greatest thing I could think of to do with my life. My kids are awesome, and Jenny makes it fun. It's great facing what they throw at us (figuratively and literally) each day together.
For now we're dealing with things like letting go and allowing Eli to walk down the street to play with neighborhood kids. We can't see him from our house, and it's hard to let our "little boy" grow up. Won't be long until they're asking to borrow the car (fat chance) to go on dates and for signatures on college applications. Until then, we'll try getting over our own anxiety and let them be kids.
3 Comments:
Scary! We shopped at that complex all the time, got take out Chinese, went to the movie theater, stopped at the Starbucks. It totally could have been us. Too close to home!
There is the concern about in the land now about a problem called "Nature-Deficit Disorder" in children. The premise is that children do not go outside much any more. At first glance it appears as another silly disorder, but the guy who has written (and testified before Congress)on the issue Richard Louv)says only 6 percent of children between 9 and 13 play outside on their own. This is often blamed on computers and television, but this author says one of the major reasons is what he calls "stranger danger," parental fear that something bad will happen outside. The recent mall and campus shootings shootings suggest there are indeed dangers "out there."
I heard on some show that the number of child kidnappings in the US has never really increased! Every year it stays near the same number (even from 20 yrs. ago) .... in recent years the media has talked about it so much and started reporting on it more so now everyone thinks it happens more frequently. And most of the kidnappings are parent or family member kidnappings.
But, it does some like there has been at least SOME increase in crime from 10 or 20 years ago!
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