Road safety should be a concern for parents.
Your child is never too young to start learning how to cross the road safely. Always set a good example, even when they are in a buggy ; they will observe how you cross the street.
When I was childminding we always used the pelican crossing when crossing the busy roads near to my house. I recall once while we were waiting for the green man to appear, another pedestrian crossed the road before us. One of the children shouted out “Look at that silly lady Karen, she hasn’t waited for the green man. That’s stupid, isn’t it?” At the time I was slightly embarrassed by her out burst, but she was right, wasn’t she?
When walking with a child beside you put, them on the inside away from the road. I am a fan of using reins on a walking child, rather than the wrist straps which they can undo with their free hand.
When childminding I used to insist that the children hold my hand, or hold onto the buggy if I Was pushing one. When we went along footpaths or quiet roads, and the children were being good I would let them run a small distance ahead of me. I would give an instruction such as “You can run as far as that red bench, but then stop and wait for me” If they did this correctly, then I would give them another pointer to run to. I found this worked really well and once was asked by a passer by “How come your children are so well behaved?”
Teach children the “green cross code” for crossing safely when there are no pelican or zebra crossings to help them. Explain to children the dangers of crossing the road between parked cars and never to run across the road. Hopefully by following this advice, your children will be safe when walking with you along the road and will gain a life long respect of the dangers of roads.
As always questions/comments are welcome.
l remember the green cross code from my school days, good advise as usual Karen.
l must say l don’t 100% trust Megan yet, but l do try and give a little. l always tell her to not stand right on the kerbside, just in case she lost balance, we always stand a foot or so back (l’m probably just a paranoid mother)
Not sure what age children start to cross the road themselves Karen ?
You can never be too careful, Sarah, we never really let our children out alone until they were at secondary school, aged 11, but you know your own child, better than anyone else, so do what you feel is right, for you both, thanks for your comments and feedback! X
It’s such a pity that parents can be so careless about road safety. I’ve seen little ones running around all over the place often quite a way away from any adult control. It’s too late when a child suddenly jumps off a pavement into the path of a car or even a bike. Good advice as always Karen
This is so important. My daughter is coming up to two and I’ve been teaching her how to cross the road since she could walk. #ablogginggoodtime
My kids CAN NOT cross a road. I’m constantly terrified when I open the car doors. They are like a group of feral cats that scatter in all directions – yes, there’s only two, but it’s a nightmare. I am clearly doing it all wrong!
#coolmumclub
So so so important I have taught this to my daughter from day dot as someone who has been knocked over and I know how quickly it can happen and how scary it can be. Thanks for linking up to #coolmumclub lovely x
Road safety is so important and we need to start them off with it right from the start
Thanks for linking to #ablogginggoodtime Don’t forget to join us again next week!
I agree, it’s important to demonstrate good road safety straight away. I also use the “you can go as far as X” when walking with my children, even the eldest who is now 8. Again this helps to keep us all safe whilst still getting outside and having fun. Thank you for linking up with #Blogstravaganza
Road safety is so important. When we are on safe paths we use the “you can run to” method, there has been times when he has gone farther and then has to walk holding our hands, so he learns. To be fair he currently asks to hold my hand and when we walk by the road he will say “hang on I need to switch sides” he knows he shouldn’t be by the road. #Blogstravaganza