When Lily was about four we started practicing crossing streets. There were two small streets on the way to the farther park, and Lily was very excited about the idea of crossing them by herself. After talking through the process (look both ways, then if you don't see any cars coming across slowly and steadily while continuing to look both ways) I would stand with her at the corner and say "cross| www.jefftk.com
(As with anything else I write about parenting, this is mostly just my observations with my own two kids and may not generalize as well as I think it does.) One of the first things we needed to teach our kids once they were able to walk was how to stay out of the street. We do a lot of walking, and having them know where it is and isn't safe to walk is really important. This was a bit more work u| www.jefftk.com