What Kids Do When School is Out of Session - Home Sweet Home

Devil’s Hole is a light vertical hike located on the outskirts of Niagara Falls.  It’s a little more than 400 stairs down to the banks of the lower Niagara River.  After the water plunges over the falls, at a little more than 360,000 gallons per second – the water rush is pretty intense from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.  I hate to say this, but Devil’s Hole is about as good as it gets because the City I used to live in can only be described as a complete shit hole.  I took my son for a hike in Devil’s Hold, then later on a walk through my old neighborhood, which could easily be mistaken for a third-world country. 

Actual Photo - Car Behind My Old House

Right behind my old house, my son saw his first-ever blown-out car.  It had shattered windows and spray paint on the side and was full of garbage. If you are a regular reader of these posts, you might recall my nostalgic post about my neighbor, Angelo.  As we walked up to his house, I noted that a window pane on the side door – the slats he used to Windex – was broken.  Then, when we looked in, we got to see what the condemned looked like just before the sign was placed on the plywood.  I was conmazed – my made-up word for being both confused and amazed all at once. 

This is how AI sees it in this post

I grew up on Walnut Avenue, just between 17th and 18th Street.  19th Street was where the bowling alley was.  There was a Marine Midland Bank on the corner.  AM/PM was the gas station with a nice assortment of candy and gum.  There was a bottling store on one corner – where we’d get our Coke, Pepsi, RC, or Jolt Colas.  That place is now a clothing shop, the bank is all closed up, and the AM/PM – whatever it is now – don’t ever go there.  I asked my son to take some footage of the street as we drove down, and as we passed one of its inhabitants, he reached under his sweatshirt as we drove by.  I don’t know how he could be confused – thinking that we were a drive-by.  But he was. 

My old next door neighbor’s chairs, still in the dining room!

My favorite restaurant opened at 4 PM and closed at 8 PM.  I used to have to wait for a seat.  Not anymore.  We were one of only about five tables that night.  There’s a new Mayor, a guy I used to have a beer with now and then.  Where does he begin when the best business in town is the plywood store?  Absolutely, without a doubt, the abandoned properties need to be mowed down.  Green grass will be more impressive for the tourists than will the crack houses and meth labs.  Maybe even plant some trees.  They can get rid of the stoplights, too.  They don’t need them. 

Now that I got that off my chest, let me return to Devil’s Hole.  Once you reach the bottom of the stairs, it is easy to forget where you are.  You don’t have to worry about the stray bullets down there.  So here is how it went.  I have two pretty smart friends, one of whom is a geologist/historian of sorts.  Once, we were walking the rocks, and he was giving out free Earth Science lessons.  It was quite an authentic learning experience for my son – and I picked up some stuff, too. 

Actual photo of my son getting soaked on the banks of the lower Niagara River

The best part was when we got texts on our phones telling us that we were no longer using the cell phone towers of the United States of America.  The reminder was to let us know that we had entered the costly world of data roaming.  If an American uses a Canadian tower – it costs a lot more, and vice versa.  That is how it works.  When that text came in, the cell phones got turned off, which was great.  Moments after that happened, my son was crawling on the rocks, filling his water bottle with river water.  Not to drink it!  But as a souvenir – a reminder of his trip to the gorge.  He got soaked, and he didn’t care. 

This is how AI sees it in this post - Amazing

These out-of-school learning experiences are really important for kids.  Too much time is spent on electronics, and they miss out on the important stuff – like crawling on rocks on a riverbank.  A piece of research was done about 30 years ago, and it was made clear that rich kids learn more than poor kids because of the things they do when school is not in session.  I shouldn’t say learn more.  They are always learning.  It is just that the kid who is sitting on the porch or walking some pretty dangerous streets is not learning the same things as the kid who is at the museum, at summer camp, or on the banks of the lower river. 

Achievement gaps start with opportunity gaps.  I saw some kids walking on Walnut Avenue – right where I once lived.  I turned my head and looked at my son.  I’d bet those kids had yet to walk Devil’s Hole –only about four miles away.  I think the difference between survive and thrive rests not only in the staples of warmth, nutrition, safety, and love.  There’s a faucet of learning that, when it's turned on – opportunities to thrive are coming.  The faucet could be a school, a ball field, a museum, or a hike.  It’s not just about socioeconomics.  It is more about protecting the littles from the plywood, spray paint, and gangsters.  Get them off their phones, off the pavement.  Get them on grass and rocks.  Turn their heads from the blue lights of their phones and to the blueness of the sky.