Owensboro Parent is introducing a new feature this month, celebrating the children and youth of our community through their “18 Under 18” feature. How exciting and refreshing to see our young people recognized for excellence in the arts, academics, athletics, community service and overcoming adversity!
Faithful readers of this magazine know that articles like these have always been an important part of every issue. Owensboro Parent has richly earned a reputation for spotlighting everything positive about our community … but this new spotlight will be an even more focused reminder of how fortunate we are to live in a place where kids are given so many opportunities to explore their talents, skills and interests.
It is fair to say the editors will never run out of sources. The 2020 U.S. Census documented a total population of 103,458 in Daviess County, of which 24.1 percent are younger than age 18. That’s about 24,933.378 kids.
Parents, guardians, teachers and others who work with children and teens on a regular basis will no doubt be eager to submit nominations for these features. For what it’s worth, I can think of a few kids (ahem) who are deserving of nomination as “best grandchildren in the whole wide world.”
But even if that is not a real category, and even if the kids who are most precious to my life are never featured within the pages of this magazine, and even if I personally do not know many or even any of the kids who do make the spotlight, it doesn’t matter. I applaud Owensboro Parent for their dedication to celebrating kids, and I am looking forward to reading about all of them.
Because here’s the thing: All these kids belong to all of us.
All 24,933.378 of them.
Even the kid who acts out in public and throws tantrums in the checkout line because Mom won’t (or maybe can’t) buy that candy bar.
Even the kid for whom a straight C report card would be an academic highlight.
The kids who walk down the street in a pack, shoving one another and blowing vape smoke and laughing way too loudly and stepping into the street without looking both ways.
The kid who sits quietly in the back of the room, doodling in his notebook and never raising his eyes from the floor tiles when walking down the school hallways.
The kid whose hair was pink yesterday, is blue today, might be shaved tomorrow.
The kid who takes your order at the fast food restaurant who isn’t working to save money for college but rather is trying desperately to help keep the lights on at home.
The kid who stands waiting at the summer feeding program site an hour before the bus shows up.
The kid who collects pine cones, interesting rocks and weird-shaped sticks and thinks it’s a museum because he’s never seen a real one.
The kid who waits until no other kids who might laugh at him are around before he sneaks over to the Little Free Library to see if anyone has dropped off any new books since his last visit.
I mean it when I say how happy I am that so many of the children and young people of our community have been and will continue to be celebrated in the pages of this magazine.
But let’s remember that all 24,933.378 of the kids in Owensboro-Daviess County belong to all of us, and every single one of them is deserving of love.
