Between parked cars
The only way across is between two parked cars. You cannot see very far along the road.
What do you do?
Step 1: What Would You Do?
There is often more than one good answer. Pick one and see what happens.
A ball rolls out
Your ball bounces into the road. It is rolling away.
What do you do?
Step 2: What That Was
The name for what you just worked out.
Stop at the edge. Every time, even if you can see it is empty.
Look both ways, and listen
Look right, left, and right again. Listen too — you can hear a car before you see it round a corner.
Cars cannot stop quickly
A car needs a long way to stop. The driver seeing you is not the same as the car stopping.
Hold a hand
Until a grown-up says you are ready to cross on your own, you hold a hand. That day comes.
Step 3: Quick Check
Two questions, then you are done.
Question 1 of 2
The driver has seen you. Is it safe to walk out?
Question 2 of 2
The road looks completely empty. Do you still stop and look?
Step 4: Your Life Mission
Something to do away from the screen. Nobody is checking.
You lead the crossing
- On your next walk, you decide when to cross.
- Say out loud what you are looking at.
- The grown-up only watches.
Why: Deciding out loud while somebody is there is how the judgement gets built safely.
For a grown-up: Let them lead and stay silent unless it is genuinely unsafe. Correcting every call means they never practice making one.
Step 5: What You Learned
- Stop at the edge. Every time.
- Look right, left, right again. Listen too.
- Wait until the car has really stopped.
For the grown-up
Children under about eight genuinely cannot judge the speed of an approaching vehicle reliably — it is a perceptual limit, not carelessness. The routine matters because judgement is not yet available.
Narrate your own crossings out loud. "I am waiting because that car is still moving" teaches the reasoning that the routine alone does not.
Practice on real roads together long before independent crossing is expected, so the habit is established while you are still there.