Parents patrol Circle Centre

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PARENTS PATROL CIRCLE CENTRE

Two groups counsel teens, keep mall enjoyable for all

June 11, 2000

At 3 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, Circle Centre is an energetic, carefree place where people of all ages come to shop, eat and have fun with family and friends.

Five hours later, the crowd has changed. The mall is filled with teen-agers walking together in big groups.

To keep the mall a worry-free place at all times, Circle Centre sponsors two programs aimed at these teens: The Downtown Dads & Metro Moms, and the Peacemaker Corps.

The Downtown Dads & Metro Moms is a group of committed adults who gather at Circle Centre every Saturday at 6 p.m. to impress upon young people the importance of conducting themselves properly in the mall.

The Dads and Moms' main purpose is to help ensure a safe environment for all people, especially children. They will stop cursing and other disruptive behavior, and they will counsel young people about dressing appropriately.

Generally, the Moms and Dads don't meet much resistance.

"I don't mind showing kids how to act, because I just feel that they need it," said Elizabeth Horne, a Metro Mom also known as Grandma. "I'm going to hug you, but I'm going to tell you what to do."

The Moms and Dads also try to break up the large groups of teens who sometimes hang out there.

Charlie Stroman III, a Downtown Dad, explains why.

"There may be a group of 15 to 20, and if you have that many people trying to walk in the mall, then no one can pass them by."

All the Moms and Dads say that they began volunteering because of their concern for young people.

The program "goes a long way in letting our children know that we care, we're concerned about them, we're concerned about their activities," said Metro Mom Karen Myers.

And they like to treat the kids in the mall just as they treat their own children.

"Being a Dad would be like watching my children come to the mall and making sure that they obey the rules and the regulations and stay in order," Stroman said.

Metro Mom Donna Forbes agreed. "Whenever I have to interact with them, I let them know that I'm an extension of their mom, and if their conduct is such that they wouldn't do it if their mom was around, then it's something they won't want to repeat while they're here in the mall."

But being a Mom or Dad isn't always about redirecting behavior. A lot of times, it's just showing kids they care.

"We try to protect every child that comes in those doors because most of them come alone. We even see children carrying babies," said another Mom, Sherry Arunkumar.

"It may be as simple as asking one of the children to pick up their brother or sister, who is only a year and a half old, or it may be protecting them from another adult who may not have the best of intentions toward them."

While Arunkumar would like to see the program expand, what she would really like to see is parents getting more involved in their children's lives.

"I would like to see Moms and Dads flourish, but not so much as Metro Moms and Dads, but as real moms and dads becoming invested in their children's future and really stepping up and getting involved.

"There's a lot of violence going on in the schools," she continued. "Parents could be in those hallways -- grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles. A lot of parents have gotten so busy just trying to support the family and provide money that they've lost sight of their children's lives."

"It takes caring parents that want to be with their kids, that have an interest in their young people and their community," said Forbes.

Another way that Circle Centre reaches out to kids is the Peacemaker Corps, a nationwide program sponsored locally by the Simon Youth Foundation, Indianapolis Housing Agency and IndyGo. Many of the Moms and Dads serve as facilitators for the program, which tries to provide 15- to 17-year-olds with the skills to come up with peaceful alternatives to conflict.

Participants meet at Circle Centre over two days, where they learn communication, conflict resolution and anger-management skills.

"It introduces the youth to a lot of different skills so that they can go out and make their communities a lot better than they are today," Stroman said.

Forbes, also a volunteer for the program, says its reach goes beyond the classroom into the community.

"Each young person that we train to be a peacemaker is able to touch another person. It's just kind of like a virus, that eventually we would touch enough of them so that the young people that now react violently will (begin) to talk things out," she said.

About 65 youths have been trained in the Peacemaker Corps since it started last fall. When the teens graduate from the program, they are expected "to go back out there," says Arunkumar. "They can go back and be a mentor to others in their schools and in their community."

Peacemakers and Downtown Dads & Metro Moms are two programs with the same goal: making Downtown a peaceful place for everyone.

For more information on the Downtown Dads & Metro Moms, contact Dave Lee at (317) 681-5615. For information on the Peacemaker Corps, which has training sessions this month and in July, contact Kim Harvey at (317) 681-5628.

REPORTERS: Emma Hulse, 13; Stephen Miller, 11.

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