Let's go play in traffic. Literally

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Aaaand this one happened yesterday, as I was leaving work.

I saw a kid, maybe 15 or 16, go running after about5-year-old boy, who I assumed was a younger brother, in the parking lot. Mind you, it was a busy day yesterday, with a lot of cars coming and going.

Then I saw a toddler girl come wobbling out from between a couple parked cars, making her way toward the two boys. She was right in the middle of the traffic lane.

Then the two boys came running out in front of me and they went scrambling between other parked cars. It was clear this wasn't a case of the older sibling trying to get the younger ones and herd them into the car. It was just a game. And there were no parents around to stop them.

After the little girl went stumbling some distance away from my car, I slowly pulled out and went out the other way than I usually do, keeping my eye on the running-around kids. I hope I don't read about them in the paper.

[Sandiercy]

I nominate those parents (or lack thereof) for Parent of the Year!

I remember sitting on the steps of a community centre long ago and watching as a good friend of mine crossed at the crosswalk and get hit by a drunk driver. She is still suffering from brain damage to this day. I will never forget seeing that either.

[LillFilly]

Sigh. This reminds me of the parents I LOVE who decide that while crossing the street/parking lot is the perfect time to teach their toddler how to walk and they sl...ow...ly let their child toddle along the middle of the road.

[raudf]

I feel bad for those kids. Their parents apparently do not care enough about them to have trained them to not run around in a busy parking lot!

It's not that hard, just panic every time they leave your sight.. it's why my oldest won't leave my field of vision. That and when I've had trouble seeing, (hubby would drive.. stupid migraines) he'd be my eyes and make sure I didn't walk out in front of vehicles.

[Jetfire]

I'm too much of an introvert to say anything if I saw that; though I'd be shaking my head at the idiocy.

My mom on the other hand, if there were kids doing that in a parking lot, she'd be reading them the riot act from the car window. And after 40 years worth of teaching teenagers, she knows JUST how to read it to them.

[Ben_Who]

Kids on my street aren't being taught much in the way of self preservation. There's this one little girl, maybe seven years old, who constantly plays in traffic - at dusk, in dark clothing, and always reacts with the same astonishment that occasionally cars use the road as well.

The overarching attitude among kids in my neighborhood is one of entitlement - They're not playing in the street, I'm driving through their playground. How dare I interrupt their vital stickball game just because I have to get to work? Couldn't I see they were busy?

I'm pretty sure that's how the unlicensed illegal daycare is going to come to an end - the eight-hundred pound woman in the plastic chair will be texting something when one of the thirty or so kids she has in her charge will make a break for a ball in front of one of our town's ubiquitous utility trucks.

[Gerrinson]

Regardless of other complaints I might have about my neighbors, they have all taught their children to respect traffic on our piddly little side street.

I was very pleasantly surprised the first time there was a bunch of children playing in the road as I came home. The oldest one (a girl who was maybe 8 or 9) took both of the younger children by the hand and led them off the road into my front yard where all 3 stood and watched my car until I left the roadway. Then she came over to apologize for them trespassing on my lawn!

I told her it was fine and they could stand on my lawn anytime they wanted if they were avoiding cars in the street.

Of course, pretty much everywhere else in town I see the exact opposite.

[raudf]

When I was a kid, the first thing I learned was that the oldest kid had to watch for traffic and herd the younger kids off the road. The job of watcher fell on yours truly, because even if I wasn't the oldest, I was the one with some sense of responsibility and... no desire to become street pizza.

I had the kids in my neighborhood trained, if I shouted "CAR!" that was their cue to head for the grass until I gave the clear. Any kid that failed in heeding the warning got brain-dusted to remind 'em.

I passed this on to my oldest.. and will be working with my youngest on it as well. I don't let them play on the dirt road, but you never know when that skill comes in handy. We have waaaayyy too many drunks that love speeding and they sometimes make the wrong turn and wind up barreling down our drive.

[protege]

Kids in my neighborhood have a serious entitlement idea when it comes to the street. They get upset when they have to move their hockey goals, pull their bikes to the side, etc. Some even will *refuse* to move when I come up the street. Not helped by their parents, who stand there, or scream "slow down." Uh, how can I "slow down" when I'm already stopped? How about *you* get out of the damn street?

[DGoddessChardonnay]

We see that level of entitlement around here as well . . . folks crossing a busy street (think two lanes/double yellow line/center turn lane) pushing a baby stroller and a toddler running amok across the roadway is pretty common stuff here.

There's a crosswalk on Phillips Avenue just past the Quick Stop, but nobody uses it. It's even been moved but still, it's a waste of space apparently.

Even on my road, folks will not use the newly installed walk signals at the intersection with Wendover Speedway, nor will they at least wear something that can be seen in the dark other than black.

Forget telling them to get out of the road - the only vocabulary that predominates here is Profanity.

[blas]

Yeah, my neighborhood has that problem, too.

There's a family down the street that has a mother who works all the time and a lazy ass stay at home dad who doesn't watch his kids. The leader of the pack of brats is this now probably tween/early teenage chode who refuses to get out of the road while he's skateboarding.

Not even my brother's straight pipe, jacked up giant Ram scares him out of the way, though my little brother does cut it real close to try to make the kid shit himself.

Any old time, sometimes even in front of my parents' or the neighbor's house, he's just in the middle of the road on that damn skateboard. God forbid he'd have to move.

[protege]

Not even my brother's straight pipe, jacked up giant Ram scares him out of the way, though my little brother does cut it real close to try to make the kid shit himself.

No, but I'm sure my now-gone Mazda would have sent them running. I'd simply pop the car in neutral, let it roll a bit, and then floor it What can I say, other than a knackered exhaust made the car quite loud. That...and it was pretty scary to look at, covered in grime and filth

[Jay 2K Winger]

"Car! "Car!" (vroom) "Game on!" "Game on!"