Crossing road when children around?

bestpud

Now, see, I would consider my child in the wrong for telling an adult off, especially so if they did it loudly! That is no better than the parent having a go as far as I am concerned (taking the swearing out for a moment).

Adults can, by and large, do as they please, and children need to accept that.

Personally, I don't think a perfectly capable adult is 'naughty' for judging the road/traffic and making a decision to cross safely.

I don't think they are 'naughty' if they have a near miss either, if it come to that. I would say 'not paying proper attention' and would use it as an example for my child. What good will saying they are naughty do?

madnessandmayhem

bestpud wrote: »

Now, see, I would consider my child in the wrong for telling an adult off, especially so if they did it loudly! That is no better than the parent having a go as far as I am concerned (taking the swearing out for a moment).

Adults can, by and large, do as they please, and children need to accept that.

Personally, I don't think a perfectly capable adult is 'naughty' for judging the road/traffic and making a decision to cross safely.

I don't think they are 'naughty' if they have a near miss either, if it come to that. I would say 'not paying proper attention' and would use it as an example for my child. What good will saying they are naughty do?

I don't think any adult is 'naughty' for crossing the road safely, and my son does not tell the adult they are naughy-he just makes the comment to me (to which i tell him it's up to them how/when they cross the road) I suppose he's wrong when he announces to me that the man/lady was naughty for throwing their rubbish on the floor? As far as my son has been taught, the rules for crossing the road safely are to wait for the green man and as far as he can see it someone isn't following the rules. No-one said it woul do good by a child announcing an adult was being naughty for just crossing-i was just using it as an example to show that whether or not others wait for the green man, my son knows the correct and safe way of crossing the road for him.

bestpud

madnessandmayhem wrote: »

I don't think any adult is 'naughty' for crossing the road safely, and my son does not tell the adult they are naughy-he just makes the comment to me (to which i tell him it's up to them how/when they cross the road) I suppose he's wrong when he announces to me that the man/lady was naughty for throwing their rubbish on the floor? As far as my son has been taught, the rules for crossing the road safely are to wait for the green man and as far as he can see it someone isn't following the rules. No-one said it woul do good by a child announcing an adult was being naughty for just crossing-i was just using it as an example to show that whether or not others wait for the green man, my son knows the correct and safe way of crossing the road for him.

Throwing litter on the floor is an offence though! Crossing a road safely is not!

No problem saying it to you.

No problem saying it to others if it is ok with you (you are his parent after all), but I would not allow my child to tell off a stranger, as I consider it wrong personally (worse than an adult crossing a road, anyhow).

oystercatcher

I taught my children to think when crossing the road. The green man is just a guide and helps to make a safe gap in the traffic. It's not a guarantee of safety, as mentioned by other posters.
Considering most roads don't have crossings on them children need to learn to judge for themselves when a road is safe and to learn that safe for one person isn't safe for another. If someone nips across when the green man isn't showing then the child can see for themselves that it is safe as the person didn't get run over...... it's getting them to think about why it is safe for that person and not for the child to doit. ie the child is still learning and not so good at making judgement. The family with a buggy can't walk as quickly etc etc....
Children are going to experience adults doing all sorts of things we have taught them not to do, swearing , smoking, fighting etc..... they need to understand the reasons we are teaching them these rules and the reasons that not everybody has the same rules !

And yes of course you can teach children to start to think when they are tiny, it's all about communication.

If a parent swore at me in front of her small child I would ask them what sort of example they think they are setting that child. No doubt resulting in more swearing! I pity their children.

madnessandmayhem

:rolleyes::rolleyes:

bestpud wrote: »

Throwing litter on the floor is an offence though! Crossing a road safely is not!

No problem saying it to you.

No problem saying it to others if it is ok with you (you are his parent after all), but I would not allow my child to tell off a stranger, as I consider it wrong personally (worse than an adult crossing a road, anyhow).

No I wouln't allow him to 'tell off' an adult directly, especially a stranger-he just says it to me 'they are naughty'etc etc but being 6, he hasn't found his volume control yet :rotfl::rotfl: so more often than not it is within earshot of the 'offender' :rolleyes: lol

galvanizersbaby

madnessandmayhem wrote: »

:rolleyes::rolleyes:


No I wouln't allow him to 'tell off' an adult directly, especially a stranger-he just says it to me 'they are naughty'etc etc but being 6, he hasn't found his volume control yet :rotfl::rotfl: so more often than not it is within earshot of the 'offender' :rolleyes: lol

My DS at 6 has volume control and a fairly well developed sense of what's appropriate to voice in public but he is 6 going on 60 bless him

However my 5 year old DD would be more likely to comment loudly within earshot of the offending adult which would meet with my disapproval and I would reprimand her as bestpud mentioned I would consider this being rude to an adult.

bulchy

mrbrightside842 wrote: »

I wouldn't tell a person off for doing so, but if I'm with my children and someone crossed whilst the red man was on, I'd tell my kids that 'that's a very silly person and it's very dangerous, you should only cross when the green man is on' etc.

This is what I did with my kids.I have also been known to tell my oh off if he crosses the road when the red man is lit up, if theres other peoples kids waiting to cross, as I tell him he's setting a bad example.
Sue

madnessandmayhem

galvanizersbaby wrote: »

My DS at 6 has volume control and a fairly well developed sense of what's appropriate to voice in public but he is 6 going on 60 bless him

However my 5 year old DD would be more likely to comment loudly within earshot of the offending adult which would meet with my disapproval and I would reprimand her as bestpud mentioned I would consider this being rude to an adult.

I never said I approved, even when he says it to me- in one of my earlier posts i said that i tell him it's up to others how/when they choose to cross the road. As we all know, children develop at different rates, so i am looking forward to the day he has volume control and a sense of what is appropriate

taxi97w

NAR wrote: »

If you are crossing the road at a traffic light point surely you are jay walking if you do not wait for the green man?

Jay (J) walking is crossing the road in a diagonal manner- not adjacent to the road like at a crossing.

Adults have better spacial awareness than children and can decide for themselves (usually) if it's safe to cross the road regardless of a blinking man who actually can't see the traffic.
And as someone has already said, you can't trust the green man to tell you it's safe expecially if some idiot goes through the red light when the green man is on.

So children should be taught the green cross code and also to use their own initiative, whether the green man has appeared or not. Because what are you going to tell them if there is no zebra crossing or lights?

The_Next_Verse

I don't believe that anyone should get abuse from either adults or children if they are just crossing the road.

If I was with my children (if I had any!), or had any children in my care, I would only cross when the green man shows. But I do agree that children should be taught common sense with regards to crossing the road.

As one of the posters above has rightly said, there's not always a green man. Sometimes there's only a zebra crossing.

I've never even given a second thought to other people (in all honesty) when I cross the road. This topic has definitely made me assess my own behaviour in that regard. Perhaps because I don't have any children I've never had to look at things from another perspective.

Maybe that's why some of the people you have all had experience with do what they do? It might not even be intentional.

~The Next Verse