Peeves

Howie Mandel was once asked if he had a pet. He answered, "yes, I have a pet peeve". As of now, that too is the only pet I have and let me tell you about it!

I will start with this: I am a parent and am continuously proud of my children and their achievements. I don't however, feel the need to post signs about them in my yard or over my garage door.

I am sure you have seen the signs about which I write. You know, "proud parent of a "insert high school name" lives here" and the child's/student's name is written in giant bold letters and whatever sport the said child participates in advertised for all to see.

It isn't that I begrudge the pride these parent feel or their wanting to proclaim to the world they have the smartest most athletic child in that school. No, it isn't that at all! What I do begrudge is the danger these parents put their children in and I suspect they have no clue!

I taught personal protection and crime avoidance seminars for some time and one of the things we always stressed was: DO NOT GIVE OUT TOO MUCH PERSONAL INFORMATION!!!!!!! And that is just what these parents are doing!

Said pride plaques tell every pervert, sexual predator and Chester the molester your child's name, address, the high school he/she attends and the sport or activity he/she participates in. How difficult do you think it would be to find out any additional details one of the above seedy individuals would need to track your precious baby down? Not very!

With the Internet age and most schools having websites with photos, practice schedules, game times etc. at the disposal of anyone who cares to tap a few keys, the information is there! A few cross reference keyboard taps (Facebook search, newspaper articles etc.) and VIOLA! Chester now knows little Susie Soccer lives at 123 Proud Parent Lane, is the star player of All American High School, has practice everyday at 4:00 and walks home alone when finished! In fact, he may have even followed her a time or two!

No one wants their child to be a victim of the local gutter scum lurking around the neighborhood and furthermore, I don't want it either. So Proud Parents, take those damn things off the garage, out of the yard and if you have to put them up somewhere, do it in the privacy of your home!