To not let 10 year old cross roads alone

[Evanna13]

I do not trust my 10 year old to cross roads. He is fine at busy crossroads with pedestrian lights. It is the smaller roads I am concerned about which do not have lights. Sometimes he will just walk out onto the road without looking or will only look in one direction when cars might possibly come from multiple directions. These are usually quiet roads so no cars coming but that is not the point. A car could be coming. I thought by this age I would not have to remind him about checking all roads in all directions. There is no way I could trust him on his own. Is this normal? I will continue to talk to him about safety when walking about.

It’s absolutely essential that children learn to cross the road safely and correctly.
Can you not go out with him and drill it into him the correct procedure. The amount of times I’ve seen children just walk out into the road without even looking, is unbelievable.
Also phones, and headphones blocking out noise, are not helping the situation.

I live near a Secondary school. Driving at 3pm is... interesting. You never know when one might wander into the road... especially if they have a phone in their hand.

So your son isn't the only one. Howevrr it is the age they need to start getting a bit of independence so they do need to practice.

Is he 10 y6 or y5? If y6 then it is probably a bit more urgent but I totally agree that 10 year olds, even sensible ones aren't always as aware as we would like them to be. I think it's good you are aware of and something that you need to work on. Could you get him to cross the road by himself e.g making his own decision on when to cross but with you next to or behind him.

He's y5, just turned 10 recently. We will need to get in a lot more practice. I think he's walking along daydreaming sometimes.

My son is also 10 and honestly can’t cross the road himself. I don’t know if it’s a lack of confidence or attention but he was almost knocked down on the one day I did let him walk down to meet me - he walked straight out in front of the car.

we’ve walked to school and home again everyday for the last two years so I just can’t figure out why! Anyway, that’s probably not much use to you but I know how you feel.

My 11yo is awful with roads. I totally understand that he needs more practice, but it's impossible to let him have independent practice as he's just too dangerous! We'll spend 20 mins practising specific junctions in our small town, but then once we're "finished", he'll just randomly wander across the road to get back to the car! 🤦‍♀️

I have 12 yo Dts they're not allowed to cross the main road near us on the way home from school without calling me to see them over. There are to many pears that drive too fast and they matter away to each other. Not prepared to take the risk.

Show him an online safety video. That will shock him

OK I am sorry that others are having the same issue but it's also reassuring. My older son has always been very aware of road safety.

All children are different. You know your child best. Trust your instinct.

I was a childminder . We practiced crossing the road everyday . Put some to take turns each time .
He needs to learn but obviously not unreasonable if. Not safe

I did the Cubs Road Safety badge at home with DD1 which involved us making a 'How to Cross the Road' slide show with captions.

Requirement 2:

https://www.scouts.org.uk/cubs/activity-badges/road-safety/

OP this exactly my son in year 5 as well and he will be 10 in March. He just doesn’t look on both sides and he will just cross the road without even checking and I have been telling him about it. We live few minutes away from the school but he has to cross one road which is always packed with cars that are dropping and picking and some parents drives crazy in that road. He is been asking if he could go walk to school alone but I’m not ready especially his luck of checking properly really worries me a lot.

It's a pity they don't teach The Green Cross code in many Schools these days.. l used to do this job..along with The cycling Proficiency .
But l think they now do Bikeability.
Green Cross code still exists within " Tales of the Road".
Your child's school can get in touch with their local council who will arrange a visit either from the Road Safety department or the Road Traffic police department to come in and give a talk.
Maybe speak to the head?

www.think.gov.uk/resource/tales-of-the-road/

Here l am age 21 doing a promotion with David Prowse ( Darth Vadar) when he was The Green Cross code man... at The Great Yorkshire show.
Lovely guy.. lifted me up on one arm then took me to lunch.

We let our daughter walk to school after much lobbying on her own behalf. We followed her the first day and she walked out into the road and was almost hit by a car she didn't see, for some reason. Talk about dolly day dream. To be honest apart from a stern talking to can't remember if we allowed her to continue..it was hardly believable.

Photo

With lots of kids having their attention on their phones whilst walking across the roads, there should be reinforced rules about it. Equally drivers have to extra vigilant - just because it is a mid teenager, does not mean they always are aware of their surroundings. But yes, 10 year should be more capable.

Excuse my grammar 😮‍💨