The other day a group of kids on e-bikes, motorbikes and mini-bikes veered out into traffic from a sidewalk, weaving in and out of parked cars and doing wheelies as they sped down a neighborhood street. They ran through a stop sign, causing a motorist to slam on their brakes and hit their horn. It’s not the first time it has happened, as the neighborhood’s social media sites are filled with angry homeowners frustrated by several sets of underaged children on motorized vehicles breaking laws and being unsafe. Everyone is concerned that there will be a fatality very soon. Ironically, it is these homeowners that are being attacked and being labled Karens. (I apologize right now for that unnecessary use of the name.) Karens . . . hmmm. Are they really? I don’t think so. They are simply people sharing their concern for these children who are clearly not being parented.
I believe that anyone thirty and older remembers a time that their parents forbade them to do something or gave them a definite NO for an answer when they were too young to understand the consequences of what they were asking for. Looking back, we can now understand why we were told no, and we are thankful that are parents did their job in not giving in. But unfortunately, it appears that parents today do not know how to give tough love. They don’t know how to say NO to the motorized bikes, the cell phones, the inappropriate clothes, the music with explicit sex talk and any number of things that are not AGE appropriate. Since when did a second grader need a cell phone, a twelve-year-old need the motorbike, or the sixteen-year-old the Victoria Secret bustier? I’m not saying that they shouldn’t ever get these things but look at the ages I listed. Everything they want was designed for a much older audience. It’s as if today’s children are being treated as adults, causing for the lack of a better term, Adulthood Syndrome; children being treated as adults or the equal of a parent. Which is what this blog is all about. These children are NOT adults.
I realize it’s hard being a parent, especially in these times. It seems like the world is moving at Mach speed and so is childhood. Every parent wants to connect with their child, some try to be their friend, while others think giving in to demands is the way. But this is where we need parents to be parents. Parents have always been the checks and balances with societal pressures. In the past, it’s been the “tough love” policies that have kept kids, kids. In other words, parents were able to slow down the “adulthood syndrome” that we are seeing today. It appears that parents have become numb to the pressures of society, and instead of saying no, they are giving in or
not saying anything at all. They are letting retail marketing drive the narrative, forcing children to grow up much faster than any generation before them. Just look at all the kids with tablets under the age of three at a restaurant and you will understand what I mean. What happened to the crayons and color sheets, the toy from home that was on an adventure with the family, or learning to sit and converse politely in public? Where are the parents? Are they on their cell phone or simply checked out? Maybe it’s just easier to let things go. But who said parenting was supposed to be easy?
Which leads me back to the kids on the motor vehicles, who are too young and driving illegally. I was reading various social posts and was amazed as to how many men responded to the anger over the menacing children, saying that “kids will be kids” and “mind your own business.” Well, “kids will be kids” until they die from running into someone. “Kids will be kids” until they runover someone, like the octogenarian in California. “Kids will be kids” toilet papering a house, until they kill the owner, running him over accidently. “Kids will be kids” doorbell ditching, until someone comes to the door with a gun instead of a smile. It IS our business when it affects us.
We no longer live in the 1950s, 60s or 70s, when there were less people in our neighborhoods. Where kids played in the streets and 
stayed out until dusk. We live in massive communities where no one knows each other, and no one is helping raise the neighborhood children. There is no Mr. Marty who tells us not to jump over the fence with our bike, or Mrs. Stallings who sits in her yard stopping traffic so we can jump those homemade ramps instead. There’s no neighbor taking kids to the library or swim park. It’s just a different time, and there is no going back. So, giving children the right to do things we “used to do as kids” is not an acceptable argument. Sure, we want your children to be children and have fun, but not when it puts others (and them) at risk.
I implore you, parents, time can be slowed down and children can still be children if you wake up and start saying NO. No, you may not have a motorbike. No, you may not stay out until midnight. No, you do not need a cell phone. No, you cannot prank someone’s house. Instead, say “yes” to age appropriate activities. Yes, you can go to the movies. Yes, you can have friends over. And yes, I will take you to a motorbike park to ride your bike. It’s that simple, I promise. Parents, it’s time to stop being your child’s best friend and be the loving, rule-making parent that you were meant to be the day your child was placed in your arms at birth. No one can help your child but you. None of us want you to learn the hard way, that the worst No you could possibly utter is the one of sorrow or disbelief.
