Teaching the Zen of Crossing the Street

Driving around town I see parents crossing streets with their children. Mostly it's the parent(s) looking out for traffic with the kids in tow; the little ones are most often oblivious, clueless and not all engaged in the process. Notably, once recently, I saw a father coaching his son about how to cross the street. Both the father and the boy were looking both ways. And paying attention while crossing. I almost never see that.

When I walked my own small ones to school, at every intersection we stopped and I instructed them to look for cars. This was in Park Slope, Brooklyn where streets were one-way. I even stressed that they should look each way even on those one-way streets. And, to look for cars possibly turning into the street. Don't assume. (By the way, it was quite the emotional day for me that time when I finally let them go off on their own to school. But, they were trained well.)

So ... how about training the kids from the time they can walk with you crossing streets? 

To do, what ...

STOP

LOOK

LISTEN

And, pay attention to the street situation while crossing.

Let me hear some Amen's!