Between parked cars
The only way across is between two parked cars. You cannot see very far along the road.
What do you do?
Life Skills · Discover · Pre-K to Grade 2
Chapter 6: Everyday Independence
Stop. Look. Listen. And why.
Stop. Look. Listen. And why.
2 situations to decide. There is often more than one good answer: pick one and see what happens.
Between parked cars
What do you do?
A ball rolls out
What do you do?
Stop at the edge. Every time, even if you can see it is empty.
Look left, right, and left again. Listen too — you can hear a car before you see it around a corner.
A car needs a long way to stop. The driver seeing you is not the same as the car stopping.
Until a grown-up says you are ready to cross on your own, you hold a hand. That day comes.
Question 1 of 2
The driver has seen you. Is it safe to walk out?
Question 2 of 2
The road looks completely empty. Do you still stop and look?
Something to do away from the screen. Nobody is checking.
Why: Deciding out loud while somebody is there is how the judgment gets built safely.
For a grown-up: Let them lead and stay silent unless it is genuinely unsafe. Correcting every call means they never practice making one.
Children under about eight genuinely cannot judge the speed of an approaching vehicle reliably — it is a perceptual limit, not carelessness. The routine matters because judgment is not yet available.
Narrate your own crossings out loud. "I am waiting because that car is still moving" teaches the reasoning that the routine alone does not.
Practice on real roads together long before independent crossing is expected, so the habit is established while you are still there.