The summertime sight presents a perfect picture of fun: Kids are in a parking lot of an obliging business in Bismarck or Mandan and they're having a car wash.
Probably as much water winds up being squirted on each other as on cars.
It's normally an exercise in fundraising, and it makes a driver feel good about pulling in and encouraging the kids to work for money for their organizations.
Sad to say, a few words of caution are in order.
The safety of the kids is a matter of concern.
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A standard feature of the car wash is to station some kids at curbside holding signs, waving and calling out to motorists. As long as they stay out of traffic, that's not a problem.
However, the thought of how quickly a predator could pull over and in a matter of seconds snatch a young person from the side of the street is capable of chilling the bones of parents -- or any decent soul who cares about kids.
It's not likely to happen in a busy public place? Think again. The unspeakable happens, and to issue the Amber Alert the police interview those in the vicinity of the grab:
"Did you see who did it?" "It happened so fast." "Did you get a license plate number or see what state it was from?" "I didn't get a chance but I don't think it was North Dakota." What kind of car, make, model, color?" "I think it was kind of tan. Maybe a Ford." (Another bystander: "No, it was a Buick, or maybe a Pontiac.") Police know how unobservant we can be when we're not expecting something to happen.
The kids trying to attract drivers to a car wash should be kept a considerable distance from the street. They still can be visible, they can be part of a group -- and they should be kept safe.
It's the responsibility of all of us, not only adult sponsors at an event, but the entire community to be vigilant where the safety of young people is even possibly at risk.
It is galling that we even have to give a moment's thought to whether or not to send our kids unaccompanied to play in a neighborhood park without our adult eyes being present to be on the lookout for creeps.
The communities have been doing much better about providing adult supervision to kids out trick-or-treating on Halloween.
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But it's not unknown for the house's doorbell to ring on any other evening of the year, announcing the presence on the front step of a youngster selling something to raise funds for the Girl Scout troop or the junior swim team or the T-ball team.
That's when it's especially good to look out to the front sidewalk and see an adult standing there.
Car washes, parks, playgrounds, houses -- they ought to be safe activities or havens for kids or anyone, for that matter.
But we shouldn't be naive and ignore the fact that there are bad guys, even in Bismarck and Mandan and in smaller towns.
We should care about the well-being of everyone's kids, not just our own. We have to be vigilant for the sake of them all.
