oh dear... i knew this nature of yours is a long term thing and then you were already damn good at it! knewing what you did, fits perfect in the present.
i don't think kids like statues
don't think they give them any importance
usually we do not give too much importance to keep the neighborhood in images, maybe we take for granted it will never change, or we will do it some other time, and suddenly we are moving away or the "statues" were moved..
also our way of seeing the surroundings , our way of feeling life and its references change with age ( don't kick me, haha )