Assassins

So only in my town would parents get in an uproar over high schoolers running through 4-way intersections like Frogger, hiding in bushes, and chasing each other through cul de sacs with water pistols in a seemingly innocent game they call Assassins. Seems harmless, but our town’s helicopter families have gotten so upset over the unfortunately named game that the Police Log had more than 200 calls last week—twice as many as two years ago—and a town forum was held to ‘get to the bottom of this terrible game.’ They have a point, right? I mean kids running after school in the neighborhood, often sprinting to chase down their target, working together in teams, getting wet. Outside. Not inside. This IS terrible…..One kid, Samantha, was hiding in the backyard of my house for so many hours that her phone was ‘losing juice’ so she asked for a charge. ‘Um, Mr. Cote, I know I’m here to get your daughter, but could I come in and charge my phone?’ The Helicopter parents complained about ‘kids wasting time’ and ‘trying to hurt each other’. I see the opposite – kids who never would interact are playing together, competing. Kids of all shapes, colors, backgrounds, and economic and school status classes are on an even playing field, brought together in a good ole fashion water fight. Many of them sit on the bench on their high school team or spend 7 hours learning algebraic formulas they’ll never use….some are labeled by their schools or the medical community with letters like IEP or ASD, but out here in the neighborhood, there are no labels. They are just kids playing.  A little community camaraderie shouldn’t scare us. In fact, Assassins may be the healthiest thing I’ve seen in this town in years.