April Fools are running the homeowner's aslylum!

My daughter, then age 3, and nephew, age 2 1/2, sure look annoying, don't they??

   A former news reporter and colleague, Mike Holfeld, with whom I worked in Detroit, first reported this story last week from Orlando, where he nows works. I know I'm not alone in my outrage over this story. The first part you read is copied directly to this blog from one of the numerous websites reporting this...the second part will be MY response. Thanks for informing me of this Mike!  To read Mike's blog, please click here: http://www.clickorlando.com/mikeholfeld/index.html

Homeowners Association Wants To Ban Kids From Playing Outside

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. -- A neighborhood homeowners association (HOA) in Volusia County is causing some controversy after it proposed banning kids from playing outside in their own yards. Officials at the Persimmon Place subdivision in Edgewater are pushing a measure to ban kids from outdoor playing in the community, unless they have an adult with them at all times. The proposal would also ban children from skateboarding, playing games like tag, or using loud toys. Parents in the community say they plan to fight against the plan.

 Rule number four of this proposal states that children will be under the direct control of adults at all times. "Children will not be allowed to run, play tag, or act boisterously on the association property." It also states there is no playing in "common areas" which includes parking lots, driveways and in front of the rear of units.

If the proposal passes, homeowners caught breaking the rules will have to pay a $100 fine.

"I think it's absurd, I mean how can you tell kids you can't play?", said resident Magee Pareja.

When I read this story it made me sad for the children living there but also so very happy I am a baby-boomer.  OK, so technically I am barely in that group, having literally been the last wave of babies born under President Kennedy, during the boom years between 1945 and 1964, but still...we had it made as kids, didn't we? 

We played outside.  We ran, we shrieked, we rode our scooters and jumped ropes, we rode bikes and bigwheels, we threw sticks & stones, we fell down and scraped our knees, we cried, we laughed, we blew off bottle rockets (OK that was my little brother, not me....) and yes....we were NOISY!!    

So...here's my own, not so nice response to those board members who believe kids should be kept indoors without adults, or at least to be QUIET while playing outdoors, namely, an uptight HOA that needs to remove the stick from within its own arse!

Dear members of the Volusia County Homeowners' Association:

So....suddenly you, within your tiny little sphere of power, have decided that kids who play outdoors and go a little crazy must be supervised and/or silenced. So it is voted upon, so it shall be.  Really? From which planet did you just fall?  Or better yet, who among you are able to say you had the pleasure of growing up in a world where KIDS could be ....just KIDS?? 

I'm guessing, without all the facts, which goes against all the journalistic ethics I learned in college, that at least a few of the myopic decision-makers behind this new proposed rule are either too old to remember the joy of kicking the can down the street as you walked to the corner store for penny candies. Or perhaps some of you younger members of this association were raised as a product of the "me" generation, meaning you can't be more than 27....so your mommy and daddy both worked like crazy to give you everything, which included anything to keep you busy AND silent.  (Think: Simon, Rubik's Cubes, NINTENDO...) and so... unless your nannies or other such caregivers played with you, your childhood memories probably include long and leisurely playdates with Mr. or Mrs. Pacman, Pong, Supermario Brothers or Frogger.  Am I right?

Even if I'm wrong, this is MY blog, and I can write whatever I wish...so you'll just have to let me rant...LOUDLY. (See Article I of the Bill of Rights...)  

And just to show I'm no "Old Fogey..."  I have a 6-year-old so no, just because I'm a late baby boomer does not mean I have forgotten what it's like to have loud kids running around me.  I am LIVING this right now. 

So let me give you a little picture (these days called a thumbnail) of what life as a kid was like for those in my age group...perhaps if more kids were encouraged to BE kids while they still ARE kids, many of our social issues regarding delinquent teens might well be lessened, although sadly, probably never completely eradicated. After all, if we can't play while we're kids, ya think we just "grow out" of such urges?  They become repressed until we are in grown-up bodies, yet we are still wanting our inner children to come out & play, only now, big kids play harder, and often, they play more dangerously.

We played, and boy, did we!  Before the breakfast dishes were cleared, we all heard the following phrases:

"What do you mean you're bored?  It's summertime! Go find something to do or I'll find something for you to do. Or, the infamous: "Get out there and play...and other than dinner, (when you hear the ice cream bells) you can stay out with your friends till the street lights come on."

So play, we did!  We actually used chalk and drew on sidewalks to play hopscotch. Bet that would make your HOA angry these days!  I'm sure concrete companies would picket your subdivision due to the cruelty kids inflict onto the sidewalks.

We "skipped rope," and sang little ditties matching the beats of our feet as they hit the ground. How annoying to our parents and their neighbors THAT must have been! We chased each other through the yards -- ours and other people's yards, as we shrieked  "Tag! You're IT!"  (I'm sure this is now somehow politically incorrect to someone....)

And here's something you might not know....boys stood in the middle of the street...(I'm waiting for you to catch your breaths)  and actually tossed balls called baseballs right at each other's gloves!  It was called playing "catch."  Sometimes they missed the ball and it went overhead, directly into Mrs. Cook's kitchen window. There were many a shattered window in my old neighborhood. And here's something you might not realize, but these boys were sooooo smart!  They actually knew they must step aside for oncoming cars....kids back then had a healthy respect for safety...I guess they now are missing this in their DNA, according to every newscast you see today.

Apparently, kids today, according to the current wave of helicopter parents and yes, experts, the media, et al., are too ignorant to know they can actually be hit by a car if they don't step out of the way!  Yes, unfortunate accidents happen every day and I'm not deliberately undermining those tragedies.  I'm simply stating the obvious: You hear any evidence of an oncoming car, you move or risk being mowed over. End of story. 

Worse than this...we WALKED down the street, to friends' houses, sometimes (gasp) more than six houses down.  We walked without  parents walking us to our destinations. As we did this, we kicked gross, used, open cans down the street . The best cans were metal and LOUD.  Sometimes we found more than one!  AND boy, that sound must've been ANNOYING to hear. The NERVE of kids making noises OUTSIDE, in the bright sunshine they're being asked to deprive themselves  of, now. 

Let me stop here to make a point. Sadly, I know we do not live in that world anymore, and it seriously is NOT safe to let kids walk even short distances because of the sickos who lurk around nearly every street corner.  But here's where OTHER people, parents and non-parents, alike, helped make it a safer world for our kids.  They would actually see and hear the kids and look out for those scary bogeymen we were warned against...and they stepped up and came to our aid if the need be...without a lawyer on hand or a camcorder to record it all and put it up on UTube. 

We kids were raised to respect other grown-ups, as well....if Mrs. O'Dell didn't like my tone of voice, she had MY mother's permission to call me out on it, lecture me and tell my folks what transpired, thank you very much!  So it was kinda like one big family in my neighborhood because everyone watched everyone elses' kids.

And here's something that might astonish some today: we rode bikes.... without helmets!  And we lived to tell you we did!  Now I am not going to discount the importance of bike safety and helmets because A) I have taken more than my share of tumbles and I'm happy to be able to write about them at all...) and B) I've seen a few nasty accidents and know of even a few adults with closed head injuries due to dangerous falls to the cement... I've even grimaced through a few falls of my own daughter, who hasn't yet mastered how to stop while gliding downhill. 

But to be given a ticket for taking a little slow ride around the block at 3 MPH?  AND for parents to be forced to wear them to be good examples??  SERIOUSLY????  WE PARENTS need to do as the children do?  Back in my day there were double standards...kids were kids, grown-ups were grown ups!  WHY?  Because I'm the mommy, that's why...and that would suffice. 

Oh, and one REALLY gross thing you need to know about your predecessors:  we ate dirt.  No seriously.  We made mud pies and sometimes we "sampled" them...and some REALLY brave kids ate ....bugs!   (not that I'm advocating that...)  but the point is, we all lived!

What I fear we cannot live with, however, is the threat to our children today, who are being told that simply playing outside is a no-no!  What about fresh air?  What about obesity?  Aren't kids already bombarded with wireless technology to the point they no longer even walk down streets?  Don't they already exceed our paid mobile phone minutes by texting each other so much they need not even get together at all?  And if they do decide to actually meet up face-to-face, someone's mom or dad now drives them three homes away to what we now call "play dates." 

These days, if  we parents are in a meeting and the kids have to be with us, when they become antsy, God forbid we should give them an actual bound, hard copy BOOK to read!  Instead, why not give them your iPad so they can play with all the pretty colorful apps! That's progress!

If homeowners associations continue to think the way the YOU think, it isn't the whales, the baby seals or even the rain forests we need to protect.... it's our childrens' rights to be children!  Shame on you for taking the joy out of childhood!  Meanwhile, I'll be outdoors listening to my daughter sing as she spins around in the backyard. And just to drive home my point even further, I'll encourage her to sing even louder!