MARK MY WORD: PARENTS NEED WIDE ROADS TO KEEP THEM IN THE FAST LANE OF LIFE

Dan Burden talks "the walk."

As director of Walkable Communities, Burden encourages cities to travel away from four-lane highways and steer toward walking trails and bike paths instead.

Narrower streets and the addition of sidewalks and tree plantings force traffic to travel slower, he says. Smaller scale roads are less expensive to build.

On the surface, this sounds great, like dropping into the middle of a quaint English village. But Joni and I are ill prepared for the quiet life.

As parents, we need wide roads that allow us to race our children to school and the day-care center every morning, and to swimming lessons in the evenings. And what about all those soccer moms? How will they get their kids to all those practices and games if they have to travel along at a slower pace?

Our hurry-up world doesn't allow room for a slower pace. We have too many chores and errands to run. As parents, our days are filled with continual 50-yard dashes that leave us little time to catch our breath. We hurry through our workday-world so we can rush home to some frenzied, family time.

Our "free time" is spent picking up after our children and seeing to it that they don't jump off a cliff without a safety rope.

In our home, Becca and Bailey seem intent on re-creating the Friday Night Fights on a daily, if not hourly, basis. We seem to be forever sending our daughters to their corners in hopes they'll throw in the towel. Of course, they don't. They'd rather fight over the towel.

Things are different in the city swimming pool. The girls are in separate classes. The lessons are at the same time, but that's no problem. There's plenty of water for everyone.

Like other parents, we sit dutifully on the bleachers beside the pool, watching our children splash around and hoping that they pay attention to the swimming instructors.

It's a strange feeling sitting there, not having to be called upon to do anything like clean up food spills, referee squabbles or search for "Buddy Bear."

Hiking trails may be nice, but nothing compares to some quiet sitting. And we'd never have that without major thoroughfares that allow us to quickly shuttle our children to the pool.

For many parents, life is a cornucopia of clutter. It's tough to fight. I'm convinced that children's clothes multiply when you do the laundry. After a few washings, there are more clothes than ever.

Each change of season calls for new clothes and unpacking old ones. Our children view such tasks as an excuse for a fashion show. On Saturday, Bailey walked around the house clad in a swimsuit and a veil, adding layers of clothes and then casting them aside like so many paper-doll fashions.

Amid the impromptu fashion show and the spring cleaning, we discovered that Becca has nothing to wear for spring or summer.

She has outgrown all her clothes, necessitating a shopping trip, which would be a real journey without cars. Bicycles are great, but you don't want to carry a whole spring wardrobe on them. Besides, there's no space for all those fast-food fries and toys.

Burden's view of life may be more idyllic, but in the hustle and bustle of parenthood, life is lived in the fast lane. How else are you going to get to the pool on time?

~Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.