What I Felt During Crossing Guard Duty: 'Protecting Children's Safety Is About Communication'

It is important to communicate thoroughly with children about traffic safety.

I felt this way because I experienced crossing guard duty in May.

Crossing guard duty in April and May is particularly difficult compared to other times.

The reason is that there are first graders who are walking to school alone for the first time.

Most of them follow the rules properly, but...

• Did they learn that a yellow light means go?

• Crossing diagonally is a shortcut to the afterlife.

• You are not supposed to do a sprint start at the traffic light.

There are some daredevils... cute children mixed in who act like that.

Also, I try to warn children who engage in dangerous behavior, but since they are other people's children, I cannot be too stern. (When I was a child, I was scolded a lot... times have changed, I suppose...)

Protecting children's safety on their way to and from school is about communication in each household.

The reason I think this is because

• there is a limit to what adults can do

• it is difficult to sternly warn other people's children

• it is important that children do not engage in dangerous behavior

.

To have children protect themselves, it is necessary to have communication at home about traffic safety and dangerous situations.

So, how should you talk about traffic safety at home?

The idea is to be mindful of the following points when talking.

• Talk using specific episodes

• Think together about 'why it is not allowed'

• Continuously include it as a topic in daily conversation

For example, saying, 'Today, there was a child who tried to run across the street on a yellow light, and it was very dangerous,' makes it easier to convey when you include a specific episode.

Also, instead of just saying 'It's dangerous, so don't do it,' it is important to have the child think about 'why do you think it's dangerous?'.

And it is ideal to talk about safety in daily conversations and share things like 'This happened today' when you see a dangerous situation.

Communication is also important among the adults around the children.

To protect as many children as possible, it is also necessary for adults in the community, such as schools and the PTA, to share information.

No matter how careful adults are, it is impossible to watch over them 100% of the time.

Conversely, it is also unreasonable to expect perfect behavior from young children.

That is precisely why,

conversations with children in each household and information sharing among surrounding adults are important.

The eyes of the adults holding the yellow flags and warm conversations at home.

Only when both of these are present can children's safety be protected.

So that children can come home today and tomorrow saying 'I'm home!' full of energy.

With that wish in mind, adults head out to flag duty again today.