The St. Paul Pioneer Press in their Friday Edition published an article describing how police found a four year old boy with no shoes or shirt standing on a street corner of Rice and Pennsylvania at 2 in the morning when the temperature was in the low 30’s. The article states the mother, Chatel Chase, 25, apparently left the 4 year old and a 20 moth old child alone to go pick up a friend. Police were waiting for her when she arrived home and provided her a free ride to the Ramsey County Jail.
I worry about kids…. a lot.
When I was very young, I learned how to stand in line in my preschool Sunday school class at the Edgar, Nebraska Methodist Church. We learned a lot about manners that had been steadily reinforced by my parents and grandparents.
Not every kid has that kind of family opportunity or chance to learn at an early age, basic skills that will allow them social competence to keep their self-esteem strong and their desire to learn on fire.
I was a lucky guy about 20 years ago now when I was asked to join the policy council for the local Hall County Head Start program in Grand Island, Nebraska. I watched how these really young kids who come from very different homes and backgrounds than I did, work together, play together and even learn how to stand in line and take their turns together. Simple things like using eating utensils and basic social skills that most of us just assumed we were born with were provided to these eager youngsters. These were our future leaders who would have the strength of their original heritage and also an American perspective. I was excited to think of the future of the potential leaders our country will have.
And then I read an article like the one above. Please understand I’m not so much after the parent as I am the process that does not allow our families to have the basic skills and needs to be self-sufficient. Head Start is one of those opportunities that so often is overlooked, underfunded and mocked. Parenting classes for newcomers and health care access are key to getting a head start for our future adults.
It’s a conversation we need to have and it needs to be more detailed than simply a bottom line cost analysis because we can either invest in our early childhood development or we can deal with the adult issues that are causing us to build new jails and spend a lot of money on programs that simply keep the wolves outside the door.
Government needs to be sticking to the business of providing the foundations not just for bridges but for our kids’ future self reliance. Invest wisely and help all our families know the dignity of education, obtaining a job and getting involved in the community. We need to help one another and I’m afraid if we continue to wait for the dollars to fall from the federal or state clouds, it will be another long drought. It’s time to roll up our sleeves as a community and help our kids long before we find them standing on street corners at 2 in the morning.