The children are the future, and the present

we can get a good feel for how friendly a neighborhood is by how the kids react to us. they haven't quite learned how to conceal their feelings like their parents. if the kids are smiling, waving, and giving us a thumbs up, i can assume they've heard some good things about us from their parents. if, however, they scowl at us, pretend a stick is a weapon they're firing at us, or throw rocks at us, i can assume their parents haven't exactly been singing our praises. of course, they're usually smart enough to wait until we've passed to throw rocks, and they have yet to hit my truck. somebody needs to introduce them to baseball.