Preschool

When Tyler was a toddler, you could pick him up and carry him across the road if he didn’t want to hold your hand. Now that he’s five, he’s pretty heavy to carry — plus he thinks having to hold Mommy’s hand is embarrassing. Is he old enough to cross the street on his own now?

Not according to Philip Groff, director of research and evaluation at Smartrisk. “For three- and four-year-olds, being struck by a car is the third-leading cause of injuries. By the time kids are five, it’s number one. It is a big problem — more than 4,000 children are hit by motor vehicles each year in Canada.”

Linda Ward, program coordinator at SafeKids Canada, says we need to understand what is going on with preschoolers in developmental terms. Even the brightest preschooler is not capable of judging how far away a car is or how quickly it is moving. They also aren’t good at evaluating their own abilities (most will happily tell you that they can run “super-fast”). So they’re likely to dart out in front of a car, even if they see it coming, because they think they have enough time to cross safely.

Originally published in Today's Parent, July 2007