Take It To the Street?

When I was 9 years old, a cute little neighbor girl (3 or 4 years old) was riding her big wheel across the street when a car came whipping around the corner. I don’t remember all the details and probably never heard the extent of what happened, but she was in the hospital for what seemed like months. That incident just drove into my mind the reason my parents had nagged us about safety and the fact that kids should NEVER play in the street.

I have come to assume that this is something all parents warn their kids about, but apparently NOT. I am hoping that I live in a bizarre little neighborhood where playing in the street seems to be encouraged and that this is not an American fad that developed while I was living in Miami. I just can’t figure it out. Perhaps the neighbor parents are from a younger (possibly latch-key) generation that never learned to stay out of the street. I wish I could even say that it is just one rouge family, but sadly most of the kids (all ages) are in the street every single day, even the cute little 2 year old girl.

If there was no other place to play, I would probably be more understanding. We all have backyards though. There is also a grassy park less than a block away. They do not monitor their kids in the street, so what would be the big deal of them being in the park by themselves?

To be fair, I can understand that kids who are 7+ years old need room to ride bicycles. Still, what happened to teaching them to get out of the way of cars? One mom, who happened to be outside when we were coming home one evening, actually half jokingly told us that we were ruining all the fun. We politely chuckled. Hello – don’t you know that the street is for vehicles not kids?

I am sure I have become known as the over protective mom. I actually insist on holding my daughter’s hand when we are near the street. I don’t let her play there either. We go to the park or the backyard for that. I guess my children will have no neighborhood friends. We’ll just drive over to my friends’ houses so they can play with kids that are also not allowed in the street.