Teaching children about road safety

One of my biggest fears as a parent is that my children get hurt. Whether that be from a fall, from another child, by accident or  from not knowing how to cross the road safely. That last one, is a biggie for me.

I think it’s so important that we as parents teach our children how to cross the road safely from a young age.

Our twin girls are five years old and they’re at the point now where I always make them look to see if it’s safe to cross the road before asking me to check that it’s safe.

The way I see it, is that I shouldn’t have to be the one to look both ways, to listen and check to make sure it’s safe for us to cross. If I do this all the time, they how will they ever learn to know what to look for to make sure it’s safe? The answer is that they won’t. They’ll always rely on me or their dad to tell them.

This is why whenever we need to cross the road, I let them check and cross when they think it’s safe. Obviously, I’m right behind them making sure that it is safe.

The main things to teach your children about how to cross the road safely are:

• Don’t stand too close to the edge of the pavement
• Don’t stand in between parked cars because you won’t be able to see what’s coming, and what’s coming won’t be able to see you
• Always stand somewhere safe, where you have a clear view of the road in all directions that traffic is coming from
• Always look both ways
• Always listen out for cars
• Once you’ve looked both ways, check again
• Look as far up the road as you can
• When you think it’s safe cross, do so safely. Don’t run, don’t stroll, walk at a sensible pace
• Whilst crossing the road, you should continue to look in both directions and keep on listening for cars

I’m so proud of how well the girls can cross the road on their own. At times, they’ve told me if it’s safe to cross when it’s not. For example, they may not see a car coming around the corner because they’re not as tall as me, but for the majority of the time, they know when and how to safely check and cross the road.

Practise is the key thing for me. Every time we need to cross the road, I always ask the girls to check and then tell me when they think it’s safe to do so.

Have you started teaching your children about road safety yet?