A Letter to the Parents of the Skateboarding Kids in Billings

I don't know who you are but I'm going to criticize your parenting style.

If any of the three kids that were skateboarding on Montana Avenue at 4:50 this morning are your kids, then you could do a better job of looking out for what's best for your kids.

Feel free to criticize my parenting too, if you'd like. I know that I could do better than I do. But my daughter wasn't skateboarding downtown this morning before 5 a.m.

Two boys and one girl. All looked to be about 14 or 15 years of age. And I didn't talk to any of them. So chances are that they could be homeless. If that's the case, that would take me back to your parenting ability.

And I'll even defend your choice of time of day to skateboard down Montana Avenue. Traffic is really light that time of day, at least. But most of the people down here this time of day aren't like me and Paul. Most folks that we encounter on our way in from where we park aren't rushing to work.

I don't know of any schools that are out of session right now. And even if they are, why weren't these kids skateboarding down their neighborhood street?

OK. I got that off my chest. Now I will pray for the safety of those kids the same way that I pray for the safety of mine every night.

If Tumbleweed had a building where kids could spend the night, there would be a lot fewer kids out at that time of the day. And I wish we had a way to build that building for them.