Last Thursday, DPS canceled school due to the icy road conditions, cold weather, and a strong chance of more snow. Although school cancelations can wreak havoc on parents’ work schedules, to many parents, it was a welcome day off. “When DPS closes, we get the day off as well,” said parent Mariel Crawford. “I had a lot of things piling up that I needed to take care of. There were some clothes I needed to take back, I had to go to the store, I wanted to look at some new pillows for the couch, just a lot of stuff. So, I packed the kids up and we hit the road for a day. It just made sense.”
Crawford wasn’t the only parent heading out to the icy streets with her kids. “I had been meaning to go to Cherry Creek to do some spring shopping for quite some time,” said Amanda Lockie. “This gave me the opportunity to throw the kids in the car and get down there when I thought not a lot of people would be there. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one that had the idea.” In fact, tens and tens of Stapleton parents chose to brave the weather and road conditions with kids in tow to run all sorts of errands.
Although the roads really weren’t that bad, some judgmental Stapleton parents are questioning the decision-making of those driving around with their kids. “What kind of parent would put their kids in harm’s way like that?” questions Brenda McGovern. “I mean, children are a treasure, and I think it borders on criminal neglect to drive around with them in those kinds of conditions.” Tracey Geary agrees. “When school is canceled, we read about 25 books, work on our spelling and math, and then we have some play time. By no means would we ever consider taking our children out in these conditions. What kind of animals are living in this neighborhood?”
Parents who chose to leave the house with their children argue that the weather simply wasn’t that bad. “If it had actually been dangerous, we wouldn’t have left the house,” said Crawford. “We would have just let the kids play video games while I did laundry and caught up on my shows. But, what would I get judged for more? Keeping the kids in and letting them play video games, or taking them out on the roads? I’m not sure.” ]]>