A Walk in the Park

School was out for the summer.  As I took a walk through the park, I saw Ladies wearing dresses pushing baby carriages.  They watched while their older children were sliding down slides, swinging high toward the clouds, and climbing on jungle gyms.  Teeter-totters were busy going up and down, while other children waited their turn.  Woven baskets filled with food prepared in kitchens that morning, rested upon a handmade red and white cotton tablecloth sewed specifically for such a day.  The boys’ haircuts were called flat tops, while the girls wore their long hair in pigtails or ponytails.  The park was crowded.  Everyone was smiling, laughing, talking, and having fun.

School was out for the summer.  As I took a walk through the park, I saw ladies wearing culottes styled into dresses, shorts, or skirts.  They pushed toddlers in strollers, while watching their older children slide down slides, swing, and show their strength by quickly moving hand over hand across the monkey bars.  Mothers usually stopped by the Golden Arches on the way to the park.  They placed paper bags containing hamburgers, french fries, and strawberry milkshakes atop paper tablecloths.  The boys’ hair was growing longer, while the girls wore theirs shorter.

School was out for the summer.  As I walked through the park, I saw mother’s wearing bikinis while watching their children swim in the pool built a couple of years ago.  Only a few children occupied the playground equipment.  These days it was barely used.

School was out for the summer.  As I took a walk through the park, I saw mothers wearing jogging shorts, circling the newly built track while dragging their complaining children along on roller skates, skate boards, or bicycles.  The girls’ hair was big, bouncy, and full of product.  The popular boy haircut of the day was the now dreaded mullet.  The playground equipment was rusty, its paint peeling from neglect.  The pool was closed due to a hepatitis scare.  The kids preferred to be home playing Pac-Man.  

School was out for the summer.  As I took a walk through the park, the few mothers I saw were wearing business suits while letting their children play a few minutes before going home to make dinner.  The children had been cooped up at daycare all day.  No one went to the park at night, with the exception of drug dealers and a few homeless people. 

School was out for the summer.  As I took a walk in the park, I didn’t see one mother.  The mothers were all at work.  All I saw were teenagers hanging out by the picnic tables, smoking questionable cigarettes.  They wore jeans with holes in them, on purpose.  Left to their own devices, many experimented with alcohol and various illegal substances.  No one dared let their young children go to the park alone, there are too many drug dealers, perverts, and predators out there. 

School was out for the summer.  As I took a walk in the park, I marveled at the lack of parental supervision.  The children actually taking advantage of the park were alone, unkempt, and wild.  They wore whatever they felt like, dirty or clean seemed irrelevant.  I wondered if anyone listened to the news anymore.  Didn’t parents understand how dangerous it was to let children out of the house alone?  I wondered where the rest of the children were.  I decided they were probably home playing video games, or sneaking out to break into homes to steal items easily sold or traded for drugs while their parents were at work.  Although law enforcement seemed to be keeping the park safer and the playground was filled with new, brightly painted playground equipment, few had time to take their children.  The occasional mother who did manage to find time to take her children to the park, usually sat on a park bench, talking on a cell phone, ignoring her offspring.  Emulating their parents, kids, oftentimes with hair colored bright red, green, or blue, sat on the picnic tables, or moved back and forth in the swings, while interacting with their friends through text messaging.  Reportedly, this sedentary lifestyle is shortening their life expectancy.

This year, when school is out for the summer, perhaps mothers and fathers should take some time off work, turn off cell phones, games, TVs, and computers, and take their children to the park.  They could teach their daughters how to sew a tablecloth and then pack a picnic lunch, like the good old days.  They could spread the tablecloth over a picnic table, set out food they made together in their own kitchen, and sit down with the children they love.  Talk.  Eat together.  It’s free entertainment.  The park would once again be filled with smiling adults and the laughter of children. 

As I was typing that last line, the phone rang.  It was my daughter.  While we were talking, she asked me to hold on while she told her son to turn off the TV and get dressed to go to the park.  Even though it was cold outside, instead of complaining, he clapped his hands.  Doing things as a family is what life should be about.

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