ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 8, 1996 TAG: 9604080083
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
``EXPLODING adolescence,'' a working mother of a 13- and a 14-year-old told us recently, is the biggest problem she's facing.
Her children are too old to need a baby sitter. (Imagine, indeed, the explosion if she even suggested such a thing!) But they're too young to be left on their own from the time they get out of school until she gets home from her job.
It's a situation that worries many a working parent - and many a juvenile-court judge as well. Most adolescent crime, according to one national study, occurs between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. weekdays.
In the Roanoke Valley, the mother's concern points up a glaring gap in an otherwise comprehensive network of child-care services and recreational programs for youth that is developing here. In the search for ways to prevent promiscuous sexual experimentation and teen pregnancy, as well as juvenile crime, filling that gap gets too little attention.
Not that leaders in the child-care field aren't well aware of the unmet need for after-school and summer programs specifically designed for youngsters 12 to14. Commercial child-care centers and nonprofit providers log countless calls from panic-stricken working parents who can't find a place where those kids can go for age-appropriate activities and a watchful eye.
Most child-care programs use 12 as a cutoff age. Even if the cutoff isn't rigidly adhered to, it can pose a problem for working parents. Preteens, beginning at about 10, often rebel at having to associate with ``little kids.''
To our knowledge, only the West End Center has an organized after-school and summer program that's available every day for children older than 12. Limited in space and money, the center usually has a long waiting list of parents hoping to enroll youngsters there.
Several other after-school programs operate locally, but with a special mission. A program of the Roanoke Valley YWCA, for instance, focuses on girls, 10 to 17, thought to be particularly at risk of pregnancy, but it's offered only one day a week during the school year.
Other ``drop-in'' programs, including Roanoke County's teen center, are excellent and fill a genuine need - but not for parents who want a place where their child is expected to show up and stay every day until the parents get home from work, and where supervisors are alert to act if a child is AWOL.
The Roanoke YMCA, which operates the popular Magic Place programs for children 5 to 12 in city elementary schools, is now considering expanding the concept into middle schools. Perhaps Roanoke County's Department of Parks and Recreation, which runs after-school programs in county elementary schools, should also consider expanding.
As important as it is to provide child care for younger children, latch-key kids can be especially vulnerable to getting into trouble at the age when puberty is sneaking up on them. The safety and security of adult-supervised hangouts for them, with activities more constructive than gazing at a television to engage young adolescents' energies and imaginations, are essential - but, in the Roanoke Valley, generally absent.
The community needs to strive to fill the gap. (Just don't tell exploding adolescents that it's child care.)x
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