Nothing to do?

By Sun Advocate

While attending a city council meeting last Wednesday Steve Christensen, who is director of the Carbon County recreation department, made reference to a news report conducted a couple years ago by an upstate TV channel about a local teenage pregnancy problem. At the end of the report the newscaster apparently made an off the cuff remark that indeed there is nothing to do in Carbon County.
Apparently the young lady being interviewed was blaming her pregnancy (which was the second one I have heard) on the fact that there is nothing for teenagers to do here in Carbon County.
While teenage pregnancy is a problem and not just here in Utah, the fact that some young people and many more older folks complain about the lack of things to do always baffles me. I never seem to find the time to do all the things or go all the places I would like to.
This past weekend was another example of too many things and not enough time.
Some friends visited from Arizona and because it was their first trip to Utah, I wanted to give them a glimpse of our beautiful state, but I also wanted to give them a chance to see this area. They were interested in seeing the national parks and also wanted to visit Park City and see the Olympic Village.
While I was on day three of our whirlwind tour, after we had visited all the local museums, driven the scenic highway through Huntington Canyon and Scofield, I thought about Christensen and the list of things to do he put together following the TV news report.
Although the list is far from complete it gives an overview of the hundreds of activities and programs that are available in this area. This list doesn’t even include the many celebrations and festivals that are planned throughout the summer and fall in almost every community in Castle Country.
Leading the list are sporting events such as basketball, golf, baseball, soccer, softball, tumbling, wrestling and tennis.
Sports are but a few of the hundreds of activities or things to do. And they aren’t all geared towards young people or children. Crafts, scrapbooking, church activities, dance, music and pottery are high on citizen’s lists.
I am amazed at the busy schedule our senior citizens lead. Over the past couple of years I have written many stories and taken hundreds of photos of our seniors as they bowl, take trips, learn computer skills and do ceramics. I have never heard one senior citizen whine because there isn’t enough for children watch TV and play computer games instead of getting involved with them and showing them the wide variety of things to do. And then these same parents wonder why their kids have no imagination when they grow up and spend their time cruising main street looking for trouble rather than enjoying and filling their time with fun and exciting entertainment.
It’s back to the same old concept that it takes a whole village to raise a child. Communities with programs such as Steve Christensen’s recreation department are only a part of the picture. They have hundreds of opportunities to expose our children to new ideas, but unless the parents get the kids involved and do these as a family nothing changes.
The choice is always ours. We can be victims of lack of activity or we can creatively discover what interests us and get involved.
By the way, whining is not on the suggested list.