Start seeing kids

School is almost out, which means more kids will be riding bikes, rollerblading, skateboarding, and scootering to friends’ houses, local parks, and the local ice cream shop. It’s a good sign because when they are playing outside it means they’re not holed up in their bedrooms playing video games. One of my favorite sights this time of year is seeing kids ride by on bikes carrying fishing poles. However, it’s a reminder that we need to put our phones down and start paying attention to what is going on around us. As you make your way home after a long day or you’re running late, remember to be aware that neighborhood kids are out again.

Kids being out of school can also mean more shenanigans happening in local neighborhoods.

As annoying as it is to get up to answer your door only to find no one there, or wake up to neighbor kids having a bonfire or playing loud music, try to remember that most of us were once kids who were trying to find relatively harmless fun. How we as adults react is important. In the last few years I have seen instances of people taking photos of kids doing annoying but relatively harmless acts and posting it on social media. Many of the comments such posts generate are inappropriate – when you consider it’s adults talking about kids - and some are downright concerning and even threatening. It’s one thing if a crime is committed and caught on your Ring doorbell, but ding-dong ditchers?

Deal with it offline. If someone steals a package off your front porch or takes a baseball bat to your mailbox, by all means call the police. If neighbor kids are playing loudly in the street, simply put in a set of ear plugs and consider a good time to bring it up.

Let’s be honest, the majority of us and the children we have raised have taken part in activities like ding-dong ditching, playing loud music, setting off fireworks, or being out late in the evening. Posting photos on social media or calling the police for situations like this is not necessarily the right thing to do. Instead, be neighborly in your approach and mention it to kids when you see them out, or if you really have to, consider a call or text to their parents. When I was in high school, my parents were often out of town and I always had friends over. I know my neighbors didn’t appreciate my friends with loud car stereos, or when we had a short lived band practicing in the garage, or the starting of a dirt bike motor after a rebuild, or the clinking of cans in the trash and car doors slamming late at night, because they talked to me about it. I appreciated that versus them calling the police or even my parents, and we made an effort to be more respectful. Kids do dumb things and we were all kids. Remember most of them are decent. Further, I believe kids are more likely to be respectful when they are treated with respect by adults, and adults actually act like role models. When you as an adult make a comment on social media about how awful today’s kids are, or worse, make a comment like “They’ll see what they have coming if they ring my doorbell,” think about how you would react if someone said those things about your child or grandchild. Because chances are, your child or grandchild has pulled some shenanigans, too. Instead, build social capital with the neighborhood kids to make a difference.