‘It doesn't always start as a trend': Parents weigh in on teen ‘gatherings

[00:00:00]We are hearing more teen trends are planned for this weekend in the city, even in the suburbs, including in Neapville. Now, this comes after several large events over the past weekend, including a gathering on the west side where five Chicago police officers were hit by a car and injured. And another at 57th Street Beach where dozens of people were arrested. You see some of the video here now. And now parents are sounding off on the large gatherings that have caused violence and chaos in some cases.

[00:00:30]NBC V's VW Win is joining us live from Rainbow Beach with reactions. V, what have you learned?

[00:00:38]>> Hey there, Natalie. So, the city is warning parents to know where your kids are and for teens not to attend these large gatherings this weekend. Right now, again, we are here at Rainbow Beach Park and you can see the main entrance here is blocked off by several police vehicles and even that snow plow there.

[00:00:52]An officer on scene confirming they're here to prevent any large gatherings from getting out of hand. While some parents tell me they're aware of the trends promoted on social media, others say they really had no idea.

[00:01:04]>> I want to make sure that I speak against the narrative of of parents being absent in these particular instances because I don't think that that's 100% the case all the time. She told me she didn't know that it was going to be a team trend, that it was just text messages or um that she was invited. Um, but you know, I'm not naive and who knows if she knew or not. She said that after a while she noticed that it started to get a little out of hand. It started to get kind of rowdy and she didn't and her and her friends recognized that it was time to go. It doesn't always start as a trend. It can start as a small gathering. And with the word of mouth amplified by social media and technology, it gets out of hand pretty quickly. I hear all of the talk about, you know, charging parents or, you know, finding parents for kids who are in the streets.

[00:01:57]Let's just be honest. Most of the kids that are out here are in underserved communities. Those parents are going to be able to afford those fines.

[00:02:04]>> I do believe that parents should be held accountable. Um, especially if uh, you know, your child lives with you and you see them daily, you should know where they are. you should know their whereabouts. Know where your kids are.

[00:02:19]Um, kids are not always honest with there's technology. So, there's a way to track your children. And anytime my daughter asks me to go somewhere, uh, the beach, especially on a holiday, I know that there's going to be people there. I was like, well, I'm going to go and I'll just be hot in the, you know, off in the cut, she's like, I don't want to go. And I was like, you know, some something must be going on. I preach to my kids and her friends and their friends all the time um about safety and being aware of your surroundings because we h we have buried innocent children that just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[00:02:56]>> Now we also heard from the founder and CEO of the Urban Mail Network. His group mentors around 500 teens a week. He tells me that they are working on um coming up with activation spaces to make sure these teens have a safe place to go and gather and to have fun this summer.

[00:03:12]I'll have we'll hear more from him coming up on our newscast at 6. For now, reporting live from Rainbow Beach Park, V1 NBC5 News. Natalie, back to you.

[00:03:21]>> And those activation spaces, thanks so much for that, V. Looking forward to the next report,