I agree with you, we should take a deep breath. I can get going on a subject, and it is sometimes hard to stop. I guess it is easy for me to debate. I do believe that quite a few of the skateboarders who cause damages aren't necessarily doing it just to cause damage, but they just don't care, as long as they have fun and it doesn't hurt them. It will take an incident which directly affects them to get them to think about what they are doing. Your ideas are really good; the parents and other adults should guide these kids to get involved in the community and help in developing decent solutions, including being proactive in getting skateboard-friendly parks or youth centers built. Maybe through this, we can not only help them to deal with problems better, but maybe create future policy makers.
Sincerely,
Merri