It is that time of year again when Spring comes rushing into the Southern United States with a passion and leaves a person never knowing if you will need the furnace or the air conditioning on any given day. And having been down in those parts some ten or more years in a row, Ol’ Dutch knows that hot summer weather will find us faster than crap through the proverbial goose.

When I decided to become a counselor, I did not think I wanted to counsel children. I had previously worked at Tu Casa, Inc., with the Children’s Advocacy Center of the San Luis Valley (CAC) under its umbrella. Even though I did not work directly with the children at the CAC, I did occasionally work with the family in one way or another.

The Bunny came and went here without so much as a dyed egg as that tradition seems to have passed the way of all things messy for moms. Nowadays of course we have multicolored plastic eggs that can be filled with all sorts of things like candy and toys and even coins.

We do not prevent child abuse by accepting it. We do not prevent it by being shy, embarrassed, or quiet about it. We prevent it by speaking out, asking questions, finding answers, and advocating for those who need us most, our kids. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and we need to talk about it. We need to talk about what is happening to kids in our communities and beyond. We need to talk about why some parents mistreat the ones they love the most. We need to talk about why we, as a community, must remain vigilant in protecting all our children.

I am writing to you with a heavy heart. It has now been over a week since our community experienced a very tragic event. It was reported that the police took down and killed a “man” who charged at them with knives during a wellness check. An awful picture was published from the officer’s body cam portraying this individual as a monster.

Spring has sprung down here in Texas where Ol’ Dutch and Miss Trixie spend our winters. In fact, it may have just sprung right past Spring and headed into an early summer as temperatures today are going to be North of 90 degrees. One thing you will find wherever you are on the Great Plains is that if you do not like the weather, you can wait 24 hours and it will usually change. And that can mean using the heater one day and air conditioning the next, which is what has occurred here where we are.

Child Abuse Prevention Month (CAPM) is a time to highlight the importance of individuals and communities working together to prevent child abuse. Our goal is to increase awareness about child abuse and neglect and to decrease it from occurring. In 2022, in the San Luis Valley, there were 1,035 child abuse reports made to the Colorado Department of Human Services.

I am not sure whoever conjured up the term “babysitting” when referring to the act of watching over someone else’s little rugrat but anyone that has done much of it can tell you there is not much of any “sitting” that goes on during that job. Those little rascals sensing some long sought after freedom from mommy soon turn into little hellions bent on the destruction of property and nerves alike in a lot of cases.