It Takes A Village...

Oh you know the saying, it takes a village to raise a child, what happens when a community doesn't want to help raise the children?

We live in what we feel is an AMAZING community. We are always turning to our local area to eat, play and have awesome togetherness. The town is always having free or low cost family friendly events, from farmers markets to parades to a fun filled day in the park. The schools are the best. Amazing sports, arts, clubs, teachers, support. I honestly feel like I am sending my kids to a big extended family gathering for their education. Think Norman Rockwell meets 2013 and you have Clarence NY.

At least I hope you will still have Clarence NY.

Our picture perfect place was turned upside down when a big school budget wasn't passed recently. I'm not going to get into numbers, he said she said, there is enough of that out there already. I want to get into what this means for my family and the saying of-
It takes a village to raise a child...

The majority of the community that turned out in record numbers said NO.
NO to social workers
NO to guidance councilors
NO to music
NO to art
NO to sports
NO to half the clubs
NO to aides
NO to teachers

They said NO to helping raise our kids.

If these kids are now going to be raised in a community that told them NO, how quickly will they leave and say NO right back.

How quickly will they say NO to making the right choice, because who cares right? Drugs, alcohol, whatever...

What's going to happen to these kids now that they are losing the part of their education that makes them THEM. Sing your heart out? NO. Tap into your creative side? NO. Take care of your body and be active in a sport? NO. Be a part of a group of kids with the same talent or love as you? NO.

What's going to happen to the kids already struggling either at home or in school? They are going to go unnoticed because the teachers will have a larger class without an aide, with more work load because they will be picking up areas dropped because of these cuts.

BUT

What I see happening, is my Norman Rockwell world of Clarence NY is going to pull together even stronger and say I forgive you, now help us fix what you broke.

I see families coming together and forming new bonds.

I see our community getting prettier with ribbons of the school's colors, black and red, decorating trees.

I see our community coming up with out of the box ideas for tapping into kids creativity and lost passions and clubs.

I see the kids coming together to volunteer to clean up the schools during the summer or helping tutor a neighbor who struggled to finish the year.

I see groups forming to help buy school supplies for kids or help a struggling parent out with Christmas or birthdays or even just an ear to listen.

I see the community that I help raise and who helps me raise my kids, come together and say~

Just because you said NO, doesn't mean we did. We said YES and we will do everything in our power to make sure our kids childhood is a good solid one and still make Clarence proud.

It's ok to admit when you make a mistake in this town, because it's a family community. We forgive, we do what needs to be done to help fix it and we make a better bond as we do it.

I'm still proud to say I am a Clarence resident and I have complete faith in those around me in helping to raise our village again.