Children in the street

When you have young children, a natural fear is that they will run into the street and be hit by a car.  It is a natural fear because it happens far too often.  We have neighbors who are older, and I can't tell you how many times I have watched a 10 to 13-year old boy run into the street to chase a ball.  It is terrifying.

Therefore, it's important to teach your children at a young age that the street is dangerous. Today my childhood friend, J, and I discussed this subject.  I told her that we have a line we use at the end of our driveway & the children are not supposed to go past it.  They do reasonably well with this boundary.  For our youngest, who is now 22 months, we have to repeatedly tell her "no" & shout when she gets near the street.  J had an even better idea. Just brilliant!!  She said that she used an apple to show her 3 young children (all under 5) the dangers of the street.  She took the apple and threw it down into the street to show how it would smash and how cars would continue to hurt it.  Another idea is to use your pumpkin to illustrate this to your children.  It makes quite an impact when children have a visual! I am going to try it!