Very young children scooting by busy roads?

"It's one of those where the risk could be small in probability but high in severity..."

Totally agree. The chances of it happening are tiny, but I wouldnt fancy my three year olds chances if he was hit by a bus

The roads around here are fairly quiet, but the thing which I worry about when I see young children scooting ahead is that they pay little attention to people's driveways. DDs friend was knocked off her bike by a car reversing out from a driveway. She was on the pavement and the driver just didn't see her.

I used to hate it too, and couldn't imagine letting dd, but I do now let her go a little bit ahead of me, similar to lamp-post idea (she is now 3.5). We have just moved from Stoke Newington, and wouldn't let her on Church St (too many people) but did on our road as it was wide and she could scoot on the house side rather than the road side iykwim. I remember seeing our friend's little boys waiting at the road, cars stopped and the scooted across the road - perfectly safely but terrifying - they were all of 2.5 at the time. I have seen separately they wouldn't have done it (great road sense) but I guess they thought they were ok cos they were together.

It's one of those where the risk could be small in probability but high in severity...

I wish I could be laid back MiaMamma sometimes I think I'm too neurotic for my own good and probably need to lighten up a bit, I was never this bad with DS(10) but then he was totally different to DD.

I used to let my DS scoot to nursery and he was pretty reliable about stopping when I told him to. However, a couple of months ago my friend's nanny saw a toddler scoot onto the road and under a car (in Clapham). So, I only let him scoot in the park now. He has got a trike which is fine because it is heavy and he is quite slow on it.

My 3yo DD scoots quite far ahead of me, I guess I'm one of those laid back mums... But I know she always stops before the road and never scoots around the corner, she knows the 'Mummy has to see me'-rule. Maybe if she was dreamy kind of child or bit too wild I wouldn't be so laid back with her.. Don't know..

see this is the problem I have with my DD, she is like a little whippet on her scooter and I'd never catch up with her! She will stop at the road if I tell her but sometimes she's away with the fairies and would forget. She's always asking if she can ride her scooter to the shops ect but I just don't know if I can trust her at the moment

We use a lamppost system.
The have to wait at every lamppost for me to catch up. (And roads and corners obviously)

I think as long as you have a good system then this can be fine. On the other hand I have seen a boy ds1's age (4) land in the road because he was out of control on his bike. If he had been mine he would have been taken off his bike long before he fell - he clearly was not in control and his mum was miles away.

Mine do it too (stoke newington), and I feel ambivalent about it - I trust ds (4) to stop at every curb and have done since he was 3, but if he didn't, could be disastrous. It can be hairraising for pedestrians too. Now he has a pedal bike it's even more difficult as I can't carry it far, and it's hard for hiim to wheel it, so if he doesn't ride it on the pavement how do we even get to the park (where there is no parking). On the whole I think mums should be prepared to run with the scooter or kids to stay close.

My dss (2 and 4) do this.
I understand why some parents would be nervous, but I am confident that they know what they are doing and that they will listen to me. They both know that if they ever break the rules I will pick up the scooter/bike and carry it home straight away. TBH if I could get them to be as well behaved in the rest of their lives I'd be very happy.

YANBU I'm in London too and would not let my DD(3) use her scooter near the road but I too am very neurotic, other Mums seem to be much more laid back about it.

My DCs (3 & 4) often get to nursery on their scooters. They wear helmets and I insist that they scoot on the safe side of the pavement, and that they don't scoot too far ahead. Actually the 3 yr old usually scoots while holding my hand.

I'm quite neurotic about road safety, and I am a bit surprised at / in awe of parents who have so much confidence in their kids' reliability.

My sister lives in SE London and used to let her children do that all the time, I hated it when I would go to visit and pick her DC up from school with her. A lot of the kids from her dcs school would scoot, and I would be in a constant state of panick seeing them on he edge of pavements with cars/abulances whizzing by.

I am very over cautious though, to the point of being neurotic, so it's not something I would even let my just tuened 7 year old do, he is still quite clumsy and easily distracted, I wouldn't trust him not to topple off in front of a car.

Not that he could do it where we live anyway, winding single track counrty lanes here, ds only ever sees pavements when we venture into Norwich!