I was on my way home from Brampton not too long ago, after visiting a family member. Before leaving, I noticed that her street had a sign which made explicit reference to the fact that the community “loved its children” (ironically, the subdivision has no sidewalks, yet plenty of children. They play on the road without choice). The more I thought about this, the more interested I became. Just when I began to think that the sign was something peculiar to my aunt’s community, I drove past Bolton’s town sign on my way home. Sure enough, it read “Our Children Come First.” How many of these references are there around us? Well, I found a third that same day, and only 5 minutes away. On the way into Palgrave, the town sign reads, “Watch For Our Children, Please Drive Carefully.”

Of course, it goes without saying that most people love their children. That being said, I am not interested in determining whether the signs are true or not. Rather, what interests me the most is why there was a perceived need to advertise the fact that local children were/are loved. Of all the slogans available, why was it assumed that those which pertained to the status of children, and our love for them, were the most suitable?

In a way, it is as if these signs were meant to characterize Bolton and/or Palgrave as special places – places that are worth visiting and perhaps worth one’s social and economic investment. But at the same time it implies, at least to me, that there is a prevailing anxiety about children and childhood amongst us – a growing sense of concern emerging out of a mass-mediated world that reminds us on a daily basis that children are no longer “children” at all. It is upon this backdrop of anxiety, I think, that we tend to profess our love for our children along side our highways; not because our children are secure, but because we believe their futures may, in some sense, be in jeapardy. “Our Children Come First,” is as much a plea for help, I would argue, as it is a proclamation of a desireable truth.

About Patrick Parnaby
Patrick Parnaby is currently completing his Ph.D. in Sociology at McMaster University in Hamilton. His current research includes Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design and the sociology of deviance. E-mail Patrick at patrick@mycaledon.com

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