I FELT that I had to write this letter after an incident on a Monday night involving my 15-year- old son. He’s a good lad who has never given me single day’s worry
He attends the Lawrence Batley Theatre group on a Monday night which finishes at 9pm. And as we live in Lower Cumberworth he has to catch a bus to Skelmanthorpe. As I was working on Monday night as a home care assistant and my last call had been in Skelmanthorpe I told him where to wait for me to finish work so I could take him home.
My son does not go out much at night; I do not want him out at night and certainly don’t want him walking home on his own after 10pm.
My son did what he was told and waited for me outside my last client’s house. He was just standing, waiting and minding his own business. But when I went out after I had finished he told me that the people next door had been out to him asking what he was doing there. They even came up to my colleague’s car to check that he hadn’t done anything.
My son explained to them he was waiting for his mum to finish work, only to be told that they were going to call the police out to him! I was so cross. My son was doing nothing wrong at all but these people were going to call the police on him. They offered no apology for doing this, even when they saw me. All they said was they wanted to be sure, just to be on the safe side! What is it with people these days? Just because a teenager is standing on a street it doesn’t mean he’s up to no good.
There may be some bad teenagers out there, but there are more good ones.
J Clarke
Lower Cumberworth
