Three weeks into the new school year and I finally feel like I have a grip on the schedule. My body clock has finally adapted to school hours and I am no longer making lunches like a zombie. Mornings in my house are pretty busy. We have early morning scripture study for several teens attending high school. My husband teaches the kids for 30 minutes and then drops them off at school. Two of my kids are up and getting ready to go to work and I am in charge of the younger boys. I wake them up, get them dressed and put them into the car to deliver the last teenager to his high school in Dundee. It is a 30 minute round trip and by the time I am back at the house, the little boys are ready for breakfast and a mad dash to the bus. After everyone gets where they are going, I head to the elementary school to my job as a crossing guard. I am home by 9:15 and I soak up the quiet in the house. It is still amazing how quiet the house is to me after everyone is gone.
My thoughts today are on the kids who cross my street every morning to get to the elementary school. The weather has been wonderful and all the kids who live close by are riding their bikes or walking to school. On Thursday last week, the scene was quite different as I performed my duties in the middle of a thunder storm. Bad weather seems to draw the line between parents who are mindful of their children getting to school and those who either don't care or are to busy to pay attention. Most kids that day got a ride to school because a thunderstorm is really not a safe event to walk to school in.
As a crossing guard, I see the same children every day. I quickly get to know the groups that like to walk together and where they are coming from. I get to see shiny new bikes and hand me down bikes. Some kids are eating breakfast as they walk with a piece of toast in their hand. It is really amazing the details that I can pick up about a child in the five minutes or so that they spend at my corner. The point of this is that I have already picked out two children who are coming from an empty house. They are in third grade and much to young to be getting themselves off to school on their own. The girl proudly showed me her new cell phone that she uses to call her mom the minute she gets home from school. The boy often wears the same outfit two days in a row with tennis shoes worn down to nothing from stopping his bike with them. These children draw my attention because they both walked several blocks in driving rain with lightning flashing every minute or so. I don't know their home situation but I know neglect when I see it and it makes me angry. Nine year old children should not be getting themselves ready for school or returning home with no parents at home.
I make sure they are safe while they are on my street and I make sure they make it in the doors of the school. For now that is all I can do. What makes me more angry is that each year there are two more kids just like these two. Teachers and people who work with children can see the difference between a well tended child and a neglected child pretty easily. They stand out like a sore thumb. Sometimes they are wearing dirty clothes or clothes that don't fit. Sometimes they don't have a backpack or a lunch everyday. Neglected children are everywhere. When I tell people that there are over 14,000 children in foster care in Michigan right now, they are astounded. It is really not so astonishing when I see the same type of children come through my corner every year. I live in a really small town. Imagine what a crossing guard in Detroit is seeing. Michigan needs more foster homes to help these children and I am working hard to find people who are willing to help. Will you help a child in need?