Fences

Yesterday while enjoying our walk at Roosevelt Park in Bessemer, I observed something that I think should be addressed.

It's about how we raise our children.

It has to do with fences. Fences are supposed to serve a purpose. That purpose might be to keep people out, to create a sense of order, to keep a tennis ball from bouncing out of the court area, or other purposes.

Occasionally you come across a fence that seems to have no purpose.

This section of fence stands in the playground area at Roosevelt Park. I am sure it has or at one time had a purpose, but I don't know what it is.

This fence stands near a church on Dartmouth Avenue. other than acting as a support for the vine that is growing on it, I cannot imagine the purpose of this fence.

The fence in this picture surrounds the tennis courts at Roosevelt Park.

 In spite of the signs on the fence that say the courts are for playing tennis only, there is a group of young girls practicing cheerleading under adult supervision.


As we walked around the track, we noticed all of the participants returning from another area of the park, and they each entered through this hole in the fence (I have put an oval around the hole in the picture). This was also under adult supervision. Click on the picture and you can see the hole better.

 On our next trip around the track, we noticed several gates at the other end of the courts. 

So here is my question.



Why are we teaching the kids to disrespect the purpose of the fence? Someone disrespected the fence in our backyard once and came onto our property without our permission and stole some stuff. I wonder where they learned not to respect fences?



These girls (and the boys that were with them) could just as easy use the gate to enter the practice area. In fact, the practice session could just as easily be held at the end of the courts where the gates are, so they wouldn't even have to walk the length of the area to get to practice.


This may seem small. But in raising children, the little things count. And they learn respect for people and property at an early age.


And we wonder why we have problems in the Bessemer Schools with discipline and respect.