Let kids be kids

I'm taking a moment to post before I start on making a mountain of pancakes for dinner. Right now 2 neighbor boys are playing in our kid's room. They are older than our kids, one of them is probably 10 or 11. They've been coming over for a few days to play baseball and sword fight with our kids. This has been my hope since moving here, but it's been slow coming. The neighborhood has a lot of turn over- mostly rentals and people don't stay long. Recently there have been more kids. They have been congregating at our neighbors and I was less than enthused. They played rough games and threw around a lot of language. I told them to tone it down once and have to admit I was a little nervous over the reaction. Then a few days ago one of them wandered over while the boys were playing baseball in the front yard. He joined in and a couple others came too. They became kids again. No fighting, much milder language, just playing. It's a rare thing for them. The opportunity to play without competing for leadership, without having to prove they can handle themselves. It's sad to see a child never feel like he can let down his guard. I want our home to be that place for them. We've seen it in the basketball guys when they come over. They soften, relax, realize for at least a couple of hours they're safe. They can be kids.
 The police were at one of the kid's home's yesterday. I don't know what was going on, but it wasn't the first time. This is their daily lives, I hope to offer them an escape from that. I have to go now. There will soon be 4 or 5 starving teenagers here and I want to give them something else they don't see much of - a home cooked meal.



Ok, just so you know it's not always warm and fuzzy. The group of guys we had tonight were rude and complained about everything I put on the table. That's tough, but there's always next time.