You Know...

It's days like these that have me shaking my head and wondering. Wondering about what you ask? Here it is...I drove my kids to school today (yes again) because of 2 reasons
1- being that Andrew had to wear his JR ROTC uniform again (apparently when you miss a Monday you have to make it up). With it being so darn cold, there was no way I was sending him out wearing it and not having on a heavy winter jacket, hat and gloves. I can drop him off near the front entrance of the school and the boy just walks 20 feet to the door.
And 2- Hannah had to be at school early today for some project she's working on at school.

So where am I going with this right? I absolutely cringed when I saw a boy walking (not sure if he's in high school or middle school) from the apartment complex that's about a half mile from the high school wearing only a hooded pullover sweatshirt. No hat on his head (not even the hood to his sweatshirt), no gloves, obviously he didn't have a coat on and this boys face was bright red from the cold. Now, from the 30 seconds that I was outside to warm up the kid mobile, I was without a hat on my head my ears were bright red and burning from the cold by the time I returned to the house. Oh yeah you can be certain that when I came inside I immediately grabbed a hat and put it head! Now, do the parents of these children not realize that frost bite can set in rather quickly when the weather is this raw? Are they ignorant or what? Then I drive a little further only to see some kids walking from the trailer park that's near the Vandenberg school (that's 4th and 5th grade) again no gloves or mittens, no hats on any of them and one had on what looked to be a thin wind breaker and it wasn't even zipped up. It breaks my heart to see this kind of thing going on. I'm all choked up just thinking about it. I want to beat some common sense into the heads of the parents of these children. Talk to your children about winter weather, the signs of frost bite and show/teach them how to dress warmly.

So now you're probably saying...what if they can't afford coats, hats or gloves? There are programs out there to get their children FREE winter wear. Trust me it's available, I know this because my son just finished collecting coats for a Coats for Kids drive through his high school JR ROTC program. Hundreds of clean ready to be worn coats were collected. Our church is currently collecting hats, gloves, mittens and scarves, again for those in need of such items all FREE of charge. Are you too proud to wait in line to get your children FREE winter wear? Then by all means go to a thrift shop, Good Will or Salvation Army store and purchase one. But for heaven sake, don't send your children off to school in this kind of weather without proper clothing! To me, sending your children out in this bitter weather wearing a hooded sweatshirt or a wind breaker is a form of child abuse. Obviously I can't save the world, but I can try to make difference in my little corner of it.