Sometimes it seems people in the suburbs will do anything to help their children.
As a Chicago suburbanite, I have been exposed to some parents' unusual efforts to make the lives of their children easier. One couple bought a house across the street from a local high school so their son would always have a place to park for school.
Then there are the classic examples of over-involved parents. The examples include soccer moms and the Texas woman that wanted her daughter on the cheerleading squad so badly she hired people to take out the head cheerleader and her mother.
People like this make anyone near a commuter train feel like sick, twisted suburban freaks.
No one knows why. Maybe it's the fact there is a Gap and a Starbucks on every corner. It could be the stiff competition to have the best set of SUVs on the block.
Everyone is always trying to keep up with the Jones'.
The most recent shocker was a counterfeit operation run by two parents from Bartlett, Ill.
This one was not all about the benjamins. It was all about tickets -- local amusement park tickets.
According to CNN.com, police said the couple might have given tickets to 20 other children -- including their own.
They got away with it for three days, until they were arrested and had to post $500 bond each, which made for quite an expensive ride on the Tilt-a-whirl.
Efforts like that of this family and families in the past have to make us wonder. Americans create neighborhoods, especially suburbs, to give people a chance to raise their children in wholesome environments.
No one expects to be able to trust everyone in this vicinity, but at least it would be nice to not worry about people scamming neighborhood children.
Someone always has to spoil the fun for everyone else.
At my town's Fourth of July parade, the same people gather at the same location each year to throw water balloons at each other across the parade.
It was all fun and games until a local politician was struck with a water balloon at the 2003 event.
This year, the people that throw the balloons with the intent of hitting other consenting adults were approached by parade staff and multiple police officers.
They were told they could face an assault charge that resulted in a fine upwards of $1,000. All they needed to do was hit someone who did not want to be hit.
Instead of waiting until something actually happened to act, two police officers stood behind us while we watched the parade.
Take that for irony. We were at a parade celebrating our freedom while under police supervision for a crime we had not committed.
But we might have done something.
Our family fun, our towns and our lives are in danger. One person complains, files a suit or makes counterfeit tickets and next year the experience is changed for everyone.
We are not all counterfeiters. We are not all out to assault local politicians. We are just people looking to have some summer fun in our home towns.
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