Monday, December 10, 2007

One of the more frustrating things about being a long distance parent is that I cannot fully control the environment in which my son is being raised. I can instill values over the phone, and when I see him I can certainly try to do it that way as well, but the reality is the bulk of his information and influence is going to come via his mother, and the people who he sees everyday. I just have to hope that out of the 10 things I say to him, 7 will stick in his brain. And on top of that, I also have to hope and trust that his mother will do a good job, which is always touch and go at best. But last night was one of those instances when the system clearly was not working.

I called my son around 8:30 last night, just to say goodnight, to see how the weekend had been, and to wish him a good week. But much to my surprise, he was nowhere near going to bed, he was up playing some game called Guitar Superstar with his mother. One, I had never heard of this game in my life until she explained it to me. Two, call me crazy, but a 10 year old doesn't need to be playing video games at 8:30 on a school night, he needs to be taking his ass to bed, reading or doing something to academic to prepare him for school. And three, why isn't he playing sports game, what's the with the guitar stuff? That last one is just me nitpicking, or maybe all of my points are, but the point is I don't have control or influence over things like that and it drives me crazy. Plus, when I asked my son what he had learned in school the previous week, he couldn't give me ONE bit of information. He kept saying that he didn't remember, and I suspect it was the video game that had his mind at the time, not me. Ok end of rant.

Speaking of kids, there were these kids in my neighborhood around 9 last night that were clearly up to no good. My lady brought them to my attention, and then I stood by the window and noticed them as well. They were bundled up a little too much considering it wasn't cold, and they were looking more than suspicious as they crept around the alleys and talked on their cell phones. These kids couldn't have been more than 14 or 15 years old, and given the time, they should have been at home. I mean who does crime on a Sunday night during football anyway? Anyway, given that the neighborhood I live in, is full of "privileged" people, I knew it wouldn't be long before someone called or alerted the police, and sure enough it happened about 5 minutes later. Then I heard the police and these kids yelling, dogs were brought out, and then I stopped being nosy, and I went back to watching the Colts whip up on the Ravens. I don't know what went down, or what these kids were up to, but I can pretty much assume it was something ill advised and it made me sad. These kids stuck out like a sore thumb, and I'm sure they thought their mission was a clandestine one. But this was the wrong part of town, and the wrong weekend to be trying to do something like this, seeing how DC police made a concerted effort to step up their presence this past weekend. It just made me sad to see young brothers going out like that, and it also made me think back to the first paragraph I wrote. I wish I had veto power in some of these kids' lives..but I don't.

Sorry to be depressing, but this was on my mind and I just wrote it out.

Nick of Time - Bonnie Raitt

4 comments:

Unknown said...

1) Guitar Hero is all the rage right now. As a music lover you should understand. It just came out last tuesday. But he should have been in bed.

2)Most kids don't remember what they learned. If they do it's hard to explain to adults. What is going to say "I learned how to divide?" That kind of stuff doesn't register for them after 24hours. Trust me it's better than when my nephew told me "Aunty, I haven't learned anything all year."

3)All hands on deck is not to be played with. But if there was a white person walking around Ward 8, I might put the serial killer alert out myself.

Jo said...

Okay, so I finished them all and can finally start commenting again . . .

I have to say I am surprised you didn't say anything about Vick's sentencing . . . even more depressing, I guess . . .

I have to say, you blogs are certainly amusing and your writing is much more controlled and careful, now.

It's nice to see the growth . . .thanks for continuously sharing your thoughts and your life with your readers . . .

Anonymous said...

You're getting old, Rashad. Old = wiser = a good thing.

Butterfly said...

Don't get discouraged about not being near your son. The best thing to do his make a promise to yourself that every chance you get to spend with him, you wil be able to instill as much information you know about becoming a man and being a success. Although it may not seem like much impact, it will make a difference... Atleast your showing you care.