Meddling

Lately, I've been wondering if we are going to have some serious trouble with some of the neighbor kids when they get older.

OK, our neighborhood has already had its share of problems with little hoodlums, like most neighborhoods with teenagers. For awhile, we were even a magnet for kids from other neighborhoods. Terence caught some kids out behaving rather suspiciously next to our neighbor's house late one night last year-- they had ridden ATV's down here from a development some 15 miles away. They had heard that this was a good place to "hang out." (And judging by the fact that they were skulking around people's fences past midnight, I can make a few guesses as to what kind of hanging out they were doing, and none of them are very innocent.) It's better than it used to be; less and less of the houses are empty and the cops get called out here far more quickly. Word has probably gotten around that we are not such a great hang out spot anymore.

But about the neighbor kids. They are still too young to be getting into serious mischief, but I see some some things already that make me uneasy. First, they seem to have the run of the neighborhood without any restraint from their parents. That could merely be a sign that their parents are just laid-back and not at all paranoid. Fair enough. But to some of my neighbors it is troubling because the kids don't seem to respect anyone else's property, and their parents seem oblivious about it. Or if they aren't oblivious, they can't control their elementary-aged children, which is even more troubling.

For awhile, I kept all my misgivings to myself because the family is nice enough, and I figured maybe I was just being impatient and judgmental with people raising their kids differently than I would do. But then you start to hear other things out of the blue . . . from girls in my activity days group that these particular kids are horribly mean at school, that they frequently lie and steal. A boy I drive to school is too scared to play on our street because the oldest neighbor boy threatened him with a knife one day. Other neighbors are sick and tired of the minor destruction the kids cause in their yards.

And I wonder what it will be like in five years.

What can I do to help the situation? Is there anything? My girls do play with their girls at times, and they seem to get along well, so possibly we could help by example? But what if my kids just learn stuff I don't want them to?

Part of me wonders, too, if I am worrying about the mote in my neighbor's eye while ignoring the beam in my own. Surely our family has enough things to work on without worrying about other people! But then again, I know that part of what keeps a community nice and safe is people actually caring about more than themselves.

Any thoughts?