“...Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.” (from Mark 10:14)
I like that Crosby, Stills, & Nash song (or is it “Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young”?!) that says “Teach your children well...”
This may really offend some people. but I think there are some people who just should NOT have children. Over the past week, largely due to the Framingham Schools being closed for Rosh Hashanah, there have been elementary school kids skateboarding all over my neighborhood. The worst part of it is all the slamming of the skateboard hitting the curb. When you’re at the computer trying to concentrate, or when you’re listening to 96.9 FMTalk trying to concentrate on Jay Severin’s monologue, well it’s VERY annoying. Even worse,. when you’re just driving down Harrison Street minding your own business and some kid on a skateboard literally shoots right out in front of you and you nearly kill him...well it makes you wonder if somehow Rosh Hashanah can’t be observed in school. (Oops, I forgot. It CAN’T be due to “separation of church and state”. I guess learning about the Jewish religion and appreciating the faith of our Jewish friends is too stupid and inappropriate to study in school...who really won World War 2 anyway?!)
Back to parenting: I don’t even think they HAD skateboards when I was a kid, but even if they did, if I’d have had one, my father would have given me an intense one hour lecture about safety before I ever used. And, if he once caught me defying his lecture, the skateboard would be permanently GONE. Some of you know that Dad was with the Registry of Motor Vehicles. He once investigated a fatal accident in Westwood where a kid on a bike shot right out of a driveway in front of a car and was instantly killed. The driver was a male nurse on his way to take care of a sick client in the neighborhood. Isn’t it a tragedy that the kid was killed? Yes. But what about the tragedy that the male nurse had to live with for the rest of his life...the memories of that. NO ONE could have stopped in time! Did that kid’s parents EVER warn him about safety on his bicycle? I don’t know.
In the neighborhood where our church facility is located (a relatively poor neighborhood just outside downtown Framingham) most parents would not win any Parent of the Year Awards. Kids are out at all hours, on foot, on scooters, on bikes, all over public and private property- yelling the “F” word like longshoremen! (I’m talking about 8,9, and 10-year-olds!) Yesterday afternoon, I had stopped by the church building to do a few things. A group of elementary school boys congregated around the front of the church building. Suddenly I heard the loud sound of glass smashing. I figured they’d broken one of our windows. I went to the door and discovered they were carring a large amount of (one of their parent’s) empty beer bottles and beer cans. I guess they were going to take them someplace to get money for them and one had instead dropped them in the middle of South Street. That was the smashing sound.
The boys asked me about the church, what we believed, etc. I was quite surprised, but I tried to answer in a brief but friendly manner. The majority were Hispanics, but there were several blacks and one very caucasian, nordic type. Their appearance was diverse, but they could all use the “F” word with equal prowess. One of the youngest kids asked if he could see the inside of the building. Inwardly I had some reservations, but I tried not to show that and I did allow them to come in for a couple of minutes. Shortly thereafter, they rode away, leaving their beer bottles and cans behind them. I went out and bagged them up. My volunteer Secretary who is kind of a recycling fanatic will probably want to kill me for this, but I intend to just throw them away. Sorry, I’m not turning in beer bottles and cans...for a Pentecostal minister it’s kind of bad for the image.
I really felt kind of bad for these kids. I don’t think they’re really bad kids. I think they’re curious and they’re teachable. When we first moved our church into that neighborhood about 13 years ago, a 7-year-old Hispanic boy named Jonathan (very similar to those kids) began regularly attending every time the door was open. We struck up quite a friendship with him and he almost became like a little mascot or something. Jonathan’s Dad was not around. His mother maybe came two or three times over an eight year period. In high school, Jonathan got into real trouble. A couple of years ago he committed a serious crime and was arrested. I have not seen him in well over a year. Our friendship and sort of “love at a distance” thing with Jonathan was not enough to really reach him. But it gets difficult. I’ve really never been terribly “macho”. I don’t relate all that well to most white middle-class American kids....let alone troubled kids from mainly minority homes. But I know Jesus loves them, and they REALLY need something. They need parents who will really be parents.
I’m just kind of reflecting today. I don’t have any easy answers. Any thoughts?
I like that Crosby, Stills, & Nash song (or is it “Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young”?!) that says “Teach your children well...”
This may really offend some people. but I think there are some people who just should NOT have children. Over the past week, largely due to the Framingham Schools being closed for Rosh Hashanah, there have been elementary school kids skateboarding all over my neighborhood. The worst part of it is all the slamming of the skateboard hitting the curb. When you’re at the computer trying to concentrate, or when you’re listening to 96.9 FMTalk trying to concentrate on Jay Severin’s monologue, well it’s VERY annoying. Even worse,. when you’re just driving down Harrison Street minding your own business and some kid on a skateboard literally shoots right out in front of you and you nearly kill him...well it makes you wonder if somehow Rosh Hashanah can’t be observed in school. (Oops, I forgot. It CAN’T be due to “separation of church and state”. I guess learning about the Jewish religion and appreciating the faith of our Jewish friends is too stupid and inappropriate to study in school...who really won World War 2 anyway?!)
Back to parenting: I don’t even think they HAD skateboards when I was a kid, but even if they did, if I’d have had one, my father would have given me an intense one hour lecture about safety before I ever used. And, if he once caught me defying his lecture, the skateboard would be permanently GONE. Some of you know that Dad was with the Registry of Motor Vehicles. He once investigated a fatal accident in Westwood where a kid on a bike shot right out of a driveway in front of a car and was instantly killed. The driver was a male nurse on his way to take care of a sick client in the neighborhood. Isn’t it a tragedy that the kid was killed? Yes. But what about the tragedy that the male nurse had to live with for the rest of his life...the memories of that. NO ONE could have stopped in time! Did that kid’s parents EVER warn him about safety on his bicycle? I don’t know.
In the neighborhood where our church facility is located (a relatively poor neighborhood just outside downtown Framingham) most parents would not win any Parent of the Year Awards. Kids are out at all hours, on foot, on scooters, on bikes, all over public and private property- yelling the “F” word like longshoremen! (I’m talking about 8,9, and 10-year-olds!) Yesterday afternoon, I had stopped by the church building to do a few things. A group of elementary school boys congregated around the front of the church building. Suddenly I heard the loud sound of glass smashing. I figured they’d broken one of our windows. I went to the door and discovered they were carring a large amount of (one of their parent’s) empty beer bottles and beer cans. I guess they were going to take them someplace to get money for them and one had instead dropped them in the middle of South Street. That was the smashing sound.
The boys asked me about the church, what we believed, etc. I was quite surprised, but I tried to answer in a brief but friendly manner. The majority were Hispanics, but there were several blacks and one very caucasian, nordic type. Their appearance was diverse, but they could all use the “F” word with equal prowess. One of the youngest kids asked if he could see the inside of the building. Inwardly I had some reservations, but I tried not to show that and I did allow them to come in for a couple of minutes. Shortly thereafter, they rode away, leaving their beer bottles and cans behind them. I went out and bagged them up. My volunteer Secretary who is kind of a recycling fanatic will probably want to kill me for this, but I intend to just throw them away. Sorry, I’m not turning in beer bottles and cans...for a Pentecostal minister it’s kind of bad for the image.
I really felt kind of bad for these kids. I don’t think they’re really bad kids. I think they’re curious and they’re teachable. When we first moved our church into that neighborhood about 13 years ago, a 7-year-old Hispanic boy named Jonathan (very similar to those kids) began regularly attending every time the door was open. We struck up quite a friendship with him and he almost became like a little mascot or something. Jonathan’s Dad was not around. His mother maybe came two or three times over an eight year period. In high school, Jonathan got into real trouble. A couple of years ago he committed a serious crime and was arrested. I have not seen him in well over a year. Our friendship and sort of “love at a distance” thing with Jonathan was not enough to really reach him. But it gets difficult. I’ve really never been terribly “macho”. I don’t relate all that well to most white middle-class American kids....let alone troubled kids from mainly minority homes. But I know Jesus loves them, and they REALLY need something. They need parents who will really be parents.
I’m just kind of reflecting today. I don’t have any easy answers. Any thoughts?
1 comment:
i guess part of it is that a lot of those kids just haven't been taught proper respect (for other people, or people's private property, or proper language, etc...). if they're parents aren't teaching them and swearing and stuff, the kids are gonna do it too. I think there's potential for those kids to learn something... just a matter of how to go about it... but i don't know how you'd do that
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