We live in a very safe community. Parents let their kids roam at will. They go to the pool, they hang out at our local Mercantile, they bike and scooter all over our community. It is great to see children grow up the way I grew up....a small, safe town that you roamed around and played with your friends until it got dark.
But times have changed and so have the parents raising their children. I think I am the only parent in this community that won't let their children have a cell phone. How do I keep track of them?
Me: "Christian, where are you going?"
Christian: "I'm going down to the library."
Later, I will call the library and verify that he is there. If he wants to go out and play in "the woods" or ride his bike around, I give him a decent time to come home and then I expect him to be there. It seems pretty simple doesn't it?
But now I think things have gone a little to far.....
The two children in front of me at the Mercantile yesterday had credit/debit cards that they used to buy candy and pop with.
What 8 year old needs his own credit card? Are we teaching our children that plastic can just buy stuff whenever we want it?
I think I 'm getting old.
