Naples~It's My Town!

Naples is a place like no other.  It is a town that appears to all that visit or live in it to be clean, well maintained and manicured throughout with beautiful beaches of white sugar sand that you can walk for miles just listening to the relaxing sound of the tide washing in.  I love taking long walks on the beach with no worries or concerns about anything at all.  It is a great place to relieve stress and just let your thoughts wander.   The the selection of fine restaurants, shopping and entertainment is vast.  I have always enjoyed living in Naples as an adult but when I was a teenager I remember I couldn't wait to escape.  So what changed? 

Naples has grown in many ways since I was a teenager.  Many would admit that some are good while others bad.  I guess I would say I found
Naples to be a rather small fishing town when my parents first moved our family here when I was eleven (41 years ago) but each year we were here we saw the town experience growing pains~ Fast food restaurants opened around the high school first McDonalds then Burger King (now gone);  the opening of Kmart was once a big deal since Walmart, Target or the mall were nonexistent at that time; influx of people crowding the roadways from many different origins which brought on the local housing boom beginning with Park Shore then moving first north, then northeast, then southeast with our first true towering condominiums coming down on Vanderbilt then all along the North-Central Naples coast line; the state owned park providing paved parking and beach access at a price; hotels and condos cutting off direct beach access; road expansion; stop-lights galore and the never-ending golf courses that were developed.  Some of this growth took place in my absence when I was attending FSU in Tallahassee earning my degrees, making new friends, and trying to find my place as a young career-minded adult.   Once again believing Naples was not a place I planned to return to but then came marriage, responsibilities, a slowing job market in North Florida and here we were newlyweds in Naples with the original intent of always returning to North Florida.  We made our family here; were gainfully employed in jobs we enjoyed; and found ourselves wanting to stay for the services, amenities and schools which we felt benefited our young family and children.  We became part of the community as adults.  Love the beach, the parks, the amenities, the restaurants, old friends and new . . .  So we grew into the community as adults and lost that immature attitude we had as young people.  But don't get me wrong there are many things that we have lose through the growth of Naples that will never be returned- the freedom to drive right up to the beach without a permit; the hunting grounds  now known as the estates or even subdivisions east of 951 (Collier Blvd).  But most of all we lost the small hometown fishing village feeling; the closeness of the community; the securities often found in small towns; and the familiarity of all of our neighbors.  When I went to school there was one Naples High School and now there are six with people living in all the areas that we once viewed as undisturbed. 

I remember the days when life was carefree; school was fun; friends were many; and you could drive on the road without finding yourself backed up in traffic . . .  I remember the old roller rink; driving around town with little to no traffic; parties at the beach; camp outs at the beach; and the relaxed nature of this area.  I remember when the mall was in Ft. Myers or Miami not across the street from the high school which was once just a vast area of trees for students to escapes in for one reason or another.  It's been a long time since my family first moved to Naples and it has definitely changed.

When I was a teenager I thought living in North Naples in Palm River was like living out in the boondocks, so far from everything.  I rode a school bus for the first time since we moved from a city in which I could once walk to anything.  But that city is no longer a good place to raise a family now with all the places I once freely wandered as a child full of gangs and those who no longer welcome the pure joys of just living.  Naples however is a place and will always be a place I can enjoy those pure joys of living with the freedom to travel only to find myself appreciated all the amenities and progress that Naples has.  I haven't found another place that can compare and I am still young compared to the average age in this paradise, HaHa!

Wine Coolers At One???

I have witnessed parents giving their young children kool-aide and soda in a bottle   I have heard of children being left home alone as young as two.  And, I am constantly hearing reports of parental neglect and poor judgement in the news, here, in the Naples area and I wonder, "Did these parents ever have any training on how to rear a child?"  But then again, I think well who is actually responsible for teaching parenting skills?  It's not taught in Collier schools.  So that leaves it to parents and society as role models to teach children how to be parents.  Unfortunately many do not have the skills themselves to pass on.  So that leaves us with parents who have no skills and are not aware of how to properly raise a child causing many children to experience some form of neglect.

 I was outraged when I heard that a parent had allowed their one year old child to consume wine coolers at a family party.  I thought, how could someone be so ignorant allowing a toddler to ingest alcohol and then I thought, Hmmm, if it was a party, there was more than one adult present who could of intervened to guide the parent in the needed skills.   It's obvious that did not happen since the parent was arrested and charged with neglect with the child being placed in foster care.  But here it is 'neglect' which typically results in the parent being unaware of their responsibilities as a parent.

I also heard about a parent arriving home to find law enforcement packing up her children because she had left them alone in a urine/feces infested home to go partying with her friends.  Mmmm, hello, you have children who require you to care for them.  If you are going out, you need to arrange for their care.  You also have to assure they live in a clean, healthy environment.  Again, no parenting skills ~ kids in foster care ~ parent arrested for pure ignorance.

I have seen children who are malnourished with poor health because their parents are unaware of services to help with these essential needs.  Some of the parents are too proud and forced into this category due to the economic situation in today's society, while others are just uneducated on their responsibilities as a parent.  The reason is not important.  It all results in neglect of the child.  Parents are responsible for meeting all the basic needs of a child and when they cannot society should step in to help.  But programs are being cut leaving some with no outlets for support, while others are denied funding because they do not understand how the system works.

But the question still stands, who is responsible for educating parents.  It is obvious to me that we cannot leave this job up to parents or society because they are not doing a very good job.  Oh yes, they will make parents who are found neglectful go to parenting classes but that is reacting to a problem that should not exist, at least not at the level I am aware of.  It is the state of Florida's responsibility to make sure all parents have the knowledge to develop the skills necessary to provide exemplary care in raising children.  It needs to start at the state level and work itself down into the educational system.  Children need to be taught how to care for one another as well as how to be parents.  We need to put the classes that once taught these important daily survival skills back into the educational curriculum.  The state has focused so acutely on academics that they forgot about the social responsibility they have for educating our children to become good parents and citizens. 

Education is no longer as well rounded as it was when you and I attended.  Students have fewer elective choices, more graduation requirements and less time to learn basic skills that will help them survive in society.  The only course that even touches on these  subject is health and it may present the topic in a lesson but never allows the student to apply or totally investigate the application of the topic.  Therefore making it irrelevant to the student in the long run.  We need to eliminate parental ignorance and neglect by teaching these skills to ALL students in school before they become parents.
It saddens me to know that children suffer because we do not.