A group of Wallaceburg families are upset after a number of lawn signs, depicting their groups message, went missing.
Bob Taylor, one of the supporters of the ‘Let Kids Be Kids’ initiative in Wallaceburg, said about 20-30 signs “mysteriously disappeared from yards” last weekend.
“Along the St. Clair Parkway, in the VLA, the back of our house. It’s funny because all they do is take the sign, they don’t take the steel with them. In the cover of darkness. Its pretty brazen,” Taylor said.
“I don’t understand how you could object to ‘Let Kids Be Kids.’ There is no political message to that whatsoever.”
Taylor said about six months ago or so, a group of like minded individuals and parents got together, who were opposed to how the provincial government was going about the sexual education curriculum changes.
“How they were going about it and some of the content, the lack of parental feed back. We got together and we decided you know what, we need to positively push back and take a stand and show that we are not in favour to how things are being played out,” he said.
“Basically we came up with the idea that it has to be positive and it has got to send a message to kids in a positive manner that you know what, lets just let the kids be kids. Trying not to politicize it. Taking a stand against the actions of the provincial government and the way that they went about trying to make the changes, or the update as they would call it, to the physical education curriculum.”
Taylor said the group decided the yard signs would be a good way to get the message out.
“Personally I think they tried to sexualize kids way to young and I think that’s where I had the biggest beef, the over emphasis on sexualization in the earlier grades. There was a bunch of different thoughts that kind of came into it. Some were opposed to some of the topics, some were opposed to the early introduction of the sex education.”
Taylor said they wanted to be a resource for other parents.
“There is a lot of parents out there that just didn’t have the time or the resources to find out what it was all about,” he said.
“It’s a very polarized topic unfortunately. I think adults have really dropped the ball on how we debated this on both sides, absolutely on both sides. At the end of the day we just want the children to be children. Not to be political pawns. That’s where I really appreciated the campaign.”
Taylor said there is a core of about five or six families that have spearheaded the sign campaign.
When the signs went missing, Taylor said he found it ironic.
“I found it, if not comical, ironic that whoever is resorting to removing these signs either had a lot of time or feels really passionate against kids being kids. That’s where I see the humour and the irony in it, but at the same time it’s frustrating. It is somebody coming onto your property and removing something.”
Taylor said the group is working hard at getting signs back to the people that had them stolen, which have popped up across Ontario.
“It’s a positive sign to reassure kids,” he said. “We don’t want you to have the worries of making this decision and that decision. Just be a kid. It’s unfortunate that we complicate things so much and that’s kind of where we have taken the stand.
For more information about the group, visit their website here.
– Photo credit: Let Kids Be Kids
