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View Full Version : Mindee 10 yrs and crossing roads



JCrakers
20-06-2014, 06:16 PM
Have a mindee, (boy) who is 10yrs old. I've looked after him for nearly 7yrs. He's going into year 6 in sept and for the past few months I've been allowing him and another mindee of same age and his brother 9yrs to walk slightly ahead on the school run to get the independence of crossing roads as next year he's at secondary school and will have to walk himself there.
School run is a 10min walk on a quiet estate, no major main roads so easy to practise on.
Other mindee and brother have been fantastic at looking and crossing but mindee 10yrs just has no concept of what's around him or any awareness. In the past he has walked into 2 lampposts and someone on a bike.
After 6weeks of trying and watching him, having to stop him from crossing when a car is coming I really don't know what to do. He gets to a road and just stands there either looking at the floor or the sky. Four mornings a week I've tried to encourage him to look and cross but every morning he just either walks straight over by moving his head from side to side but doesn't really look or just looks at the floor.


Any ideas of what I can do to help. I've tried road safety worksheets and talking about crossing the road and he knows how to do it but can't put into practise. He really struggles with his awareness and I feel like I've got to watch him all the time.

FloraDora
20-06-2014, 06:38 PM
Is he taken every where by car at home? I find ferried children have the least natural awareness of their safety on roads. Could you walk via a busy road as thats where the 'need to' experience kicks in- often on small roads with hardly any cars the impetus to actually look is not there as usually you can cross, and the speed of cars doesn't shout danger. Several trips to a main road without crossings teaches the real reason to know how to cross the road.

k1rstie
20-06-2014, 07:54 PM
The head shaking while crossing the road annoys me too. I also put umbrellas down, and hoods down too(if I an get away with it) when crossing the road.


I recently ALMOST ran a mum, a pushchair and reception child on a scooter over while on the school run.

Mum just stepped out into the road, near a junction. She did look a bit, but due to the phone calmed under her chin, she could not turn her head to look in the direction of much traffic. She just stepped out!!!

I was quite shaken, even though I did see her and stopped. Had it happened the day previously, due to my kids shouting and fighting in the back of the car, I wonder wether I would have noticed her?????

loocyloo
20-06-2014, 09:50 PM
I grew up being taught how to cross roads safely, not to walk between parked cars, use crossings/safe place ...

we now live in a small town that has cars parked everywhere, countless blind corners ( that people park on :panic: ) and no crossings at all, unless you count the 'A' road, that goes across the bottom of town and no one really ever needs to cross!

hence .... my own children, and minded children all are very aware of cars and know how to cross safely ( on a not always busy, but badly parked road ). we do have to cross on blind corners, as no alternative ( apart from walking on the road itself! ) and we do have to cross between parked cars as again, no alternative, unless we use an actual road junction! I had a friends child with me the other day and it was so obvious that she doesn't ever cross a busy road ( or even a quiet road ) without an adult telling her it was safe to do so. we spend a lot of time talking about it and asking everyone if it is safe to cross etc.

line6
20-06-2014, 11:43 PM
This is something we've drilled into our own children since they were very little and are constantly working on with mindees. Whenever we are walking beside a road we constantly talk about possible hazards like driveways or parked cars. I did road safety week with them all last year and we were talking about it today on the school run. Quite how a child can get to 10 and have no idea is astounding! Even spacial awareness on the pavement is something we constantly talk about as soon as they are walking.

JCrakers
22-06-2014, 06:45 PM
Thanks everyone.....

The problem I have is that I've been walking this child to school for four days a week since foundation stage and he is now 10yrs old. I have been talking and working with him for 6 yrs and I've cared for him for nearly 7yrs.
Everyone else that I walk to school including his 5yr old sister can cross roads properly but he cannot.

He hasn't been ferried in a car as he's been walking to school every day. I have drilled in to him the way we cross and he just stands looking into space. I must add that he is a very bright boy regarding his school work and has no development probs.... He just has no special awareness at all and I'm finding it extremely difficult to get him to do it on his own :)

sing-low
22-06-2014, 08:17 PM
Sounds incredibly frustrating for you! Is he bothered by the fact that he can't do it? Could it be that he's used to being able to do things without trying (as he's bright) and is just giving up because he's unused to having to work at something or because he's embarrassed?

FloraDora
22-06-2014, 08:25 PM
Thanks everyone.....

The problem I have is that I've been walking this child to school for four days a week since foundation stage and he is now 10yrs old. I have been talking and working with him for 6 yrs and I've cared for him for nearly 7yrs.
Everyone else that I walk to school including his 5yr old sister can cross roads properly but he cannot.

He hasn't been ferried in a car as he's been walking to school every day. I have drilled in to him the way we cross and he just stands looking into space. I must add that he is a very bright boy regarding his school work and has no development probs.... He just has no special awareness at all and I'm finding it extremely difficult to get him to do it on his own :)

My closest friend has: First degree,masters and a doctorate, appeared on University challenge earns in excess off three figures annually.....and when we moved him into a brand new, newly built house and the most important thing was to get the ariel in the loft to watch the Rugby.....he just walked all over the ceiling...not the joists!!!! His feet went straight through!!!
Practically he is a nightmare, but he is very very clever and is renowned in his field! Perhaps your 10 year old will be the same.... At some point you may have to just accept he is never going to get it so your risk assessment is always to be there!! Once he goes to high school he may need to walk to school with a group of friends.

scottishlass
22-06-2014, 09:58 PM
My youngest daughter who has just turned 8 does the head from side to side but not properly looking and it drives me crazy!!

She's always going on about wanting to walk to school herself like her sister (who is 11) but have to tell her she will be walking with me for a long time as she can't cross the road safely! Her sister has always been a very careful crosser from a very young age but my wee one listens and agrees to everything I say and then does the same thing again.

She has the mentality of but that won't happen to me when explaining about getting knocked down etc and this scares me x

bunyip
23-06-2014, 06:37 AM
When I were a lad.................. we were bombarded with road (and home) safety instruction at home, at school, on TV, everywhere. These days it seems to be assumed nobody uses their legs any longer. As long as the child seat is properly fitted, and the seatbelts are on, then everyone's fine and the hapless pedestrians are just going to have to fend for themselves. :p

And whatever happened to the Tufty Club? :huh:

QualityCare
23-06-2014, 07:23 AM
And whatever happened to the Tufty Club? :huh:[/QUOTE]

Ahhh, l loved the tufty club especially when it was my turn to be a car driver.

bunyip
23-06-2014, 09:06 AM
And whatever happened to the Tufty Club? :huh:

Ahhh, l loved the tufty club especially when it was my turn to be a car driver.[/QUOTE]

Yeah. How on Earth did Bobby Brown Rabbit survive all those accidents every week? :eek:

clareelizabeth1
23-06-2014, 10:59 AM
What's the tufty club

QualityCare
23-06-2014, 01:02 PM
It was a club for children of my and bunyip's? era it usually ran during the school holidays and taught road safety with the aid of woodland creatures (children dressed up) Mrs owl was a teacher, l think the badger was a policeman there were large road mats with zebra crossings traffic lights we drove toy cars and bikes around the road while the woodland creatures found safe places to cross.

bunyip
24-06-2014, 08:18 AM
It was a club for children of my and bunyip's? era it usually ran during the school holidays and taught road safety with the aid of woodland creatures (children dressed up) Mrs owl was a teacher, l think the badger was a policeman there were large road mats with zebra crossings traffic lights we drove toy cars and bikes around the road while the woodland creatures found safe places to cross.

:clapping: Yes, we're rather showing our age, aren't we? :rolleyes:

Ours was after school, instead of during the holidays. IIRC, I spent the holidays doing all the things Tufty taught us not to do. :p

We also had Tufty club outings to the ABC Cinema for the Saturday morning children's picture shows.

Somewhere, my mother still has at least one of my club badges and a handwritten certificate from Tufty saying how pleased he is with my attendance and progress.

clareelizabeth1
24-06-2014, 08:28 AM
Ok that club sounds kind of cool

mama2three
24-06-2014, 08:35 AM
can you imagine todays kids going though? they would have to be dragged kicking and screaming away from the xbox and tv.

Back to the op - I would try him at some busy roads - it will help focus his attention more when he cant just saunter around and presume nothings coming. Ideally Id do this 1-1 so not really manageable for a cm but one to suggest to parents ( then if they get run over its not down to you:o)