I am not your baby sitter
by Tony Peters on January 29, 2008
Rant....I'm still pissed about this because my hip is sore...as some of you know I still skateboard at the age of 41. My local skatepark that I have spent a week of vacation time working to improve is skateboards only (insurance reasons) and my town has an ordinance concerning the age of children who can be left in a park (baseball, soccer skateboard etc) without supervision (age 10). Sunday mornings is traditionally OG (Old Guy) time mostly because unlike the 20 somethings we are awake early and but also because we all take the effort to gather, skate and swap lies. sometimes the guys and girls bring their kids sometimes not but in general there are always kids present that someone is watching/responsible for. Now the subject of my rant...the thing that nearly all skaters hate is when a parent dumps their kids at the park for the day especially with they are under the age of 10. Sunday morning met up with the rest of the regulars there were 5 of us plus 2 kids. Some annoying yuppie drives up in his Volvo Xcountry and his 3 kids age 8,9 + 10 and their BMX Bikes all stacked in the Thule racks, one skater told the father that bikes wern't allowed and was told politely Fuck You. As the kids started to come in the rest of us joined in shutting down the children from coming in. One ran back to daddy as he was driving away. Daddy came into the park swinging and swearing at us all jumping in front up us as we skated complaing that he pays his taxes for the park and his children have the right to ride their bikes. After he caused me to fall I finally snapped and walked him over to the sign and pointed out the "no bikes" along with the "supervisory ordinance" and this jerk had the nerve to say well they can use your skateboards and you can watch them. Now I have no kids and I don't want them, babysitting other people kids isn't a pleasure either. I'm there for my enjoyment and exercise. For once I didn't swing first and informed him of why bikes weren't allowed, safety, insurance, damage to the park and why his children were better suprevised by him and not a 215lbs Old Guy in full armor who doesn't care if they mow down a 75lbs kid riding a bike illegally. When he still wouldn't behave like an adult I asked him if he would like to have an officer decide it...I guess that was too much for him and he grabbed his kids and left in huff. the rest of my morning passed with no drama but the fall this guy caused still hurts
Four Replies to I am not your baby sitter
Amy Austin | January 30, 2008
Good thing you didn't try to kick him in the balls... you might have broken your foot on them!
Tony Peters | January 30, 2008
I live in the blue collar corner of one of the richer parts of southern RI, not as bad as Newport but more NY money...because of Watch Hill we aren't eligible for a lot of federal funding (schools, roads parks etc) which only makes the devide between the weekendeers and the year rounders worse. The entitlement issues that the weekenders have blows my mind sometimes. It would be one thing if the park were in a well trafficed area but it's stuffed behind a huge mostly empty soccer complex 150 yards from the CT border with no phones, lights, water or bathrooms; Parents would you leave your children a mile from the nearest anything to play at a park that has as many (if not more) adults of questionable trustablity as children? The park is almost forgotten by the city, which has forced the local skateboarding community to form a nonprofit association to fund improvements and construction along with soliciting volunteer labor. It's actually amazine the number of blue collar kids and their parents we had out shoveling concrete but god forbid any of the weekenders contribute...I had a mother ask me (as I was standing in wet concrete) when we would be done so her little "Heath" could skate (completely ignoring the "park is closed until...." sign)...I gleefully told here that if the weather continued to degrade it might be a month or two.
Jackie Mason | February 2, 2008
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