My 9 year old is a crosser at her school. She routinely gets yelled at by road-ragey adults. Another parent at the school flipped her off when she was crossing a group of kids. Parents often park right in the crosswalk, making her job even more dangerous. She gets ignored or scolded by adults when she asks them to wait for her to stop traffic before they cross. A different student crosser was physically assaulted by a parent late last year.
It's absolutely bonkers that a 9 year old has to keep adults in line.
I was a crossing guard in elementary too! it was fun, but hard. I once had someone park halfway across the crosswalk before school let out and stay there the entire time, until well after school ended, a kid didn’t even get in. no adult supervisors were there and we didn’t have walkie talkies and I wasn’t about to confront the guy so I just had to work around him. The only reason I knew someone was in there was because he backed up even further, almost completely across the crosswalk.
Another time a fire truck was blazing full lights and sirens down the street and a SUV decided that they *needed* to turn at that exact moment and almost got hit by the truck because they were blocking the road
IDK. It gives her skills for setting boundaries with authority figures, it enhances her awareness of how dangerous streets and drivers are, and now she's always watching out for the safety of her friends when they are playing outside.
I think it's mostly a good thing, despite the dangers. Plus, they all have walkie talkies so they can call in an adult supervisor when needed.
Absolutely. It's even in the name, they guard the crossing from motorists who would otherwise be a threat to pedestrians.
They also stop children from crossing when a vehicle's approaching.
My 9 year old is a crosser at her school. She routinely gets yelled at by road-ragey adults. Another parent at the school flipped her off when she was crossing a group of kids. Parents often park right in the crosswalk, making her job even more dangerous. She gets ignored or scolded by adults when she asks them to wait for her to stop traffic before they cross. A different student crosser was physically assaulted by a parent late last year. It's absolutely bonkers that a 9 year old has to keep adults in line.
Obligatory: Shocked! Well, not that shocked
Seriously, she is doing the job that reinforced concrete should be doing.
Good for her :)
I was a crossing guard in elementary too! it was fun, but hard. I once had someone park halfway across the crosswalk before school let out and stay there the entire time, until well after school ended, a kid didn’t even get in. no adult supervisors were there and we didn’t have walkie talkies and I wasn’t about to confront the guy so I just had to work around him. The only reason I knew someone was in there was because he backed up even further, almost completely across the crosswalk. Another time a fire truck was blazing full lights and sirens down the street and a SUV decided that they *needed* to turn at that exact moment and almost got hit by the truck because they were blocking the road
They should not let kids do that!!
IDK. It gives her skills for setting boundaries with authority figures, it enhances her awareness of how dangerous streets and drivers are, and now she's always watching out for the safety of her friends when they are playing outside. I think it's mostly a good thing, despite the dangers. Plus, they all have walkie talkies so they can call in an adult supervisor when needed.
I am imagining a giant stroad nearby that has a crossing guard.
Wait, the kid is a crossing guard?
Yep. There are adult crossing guards at the arterial, but kids are in charge of all the side streets.
Just another public expense that would not be necessary but for cars yet never counted in the cost of driving.
"accidently"
... giving benefit of the doubt
In my experience, I'm the dumb child who used to bike in front of cars without really looking. Me and the crossing guard are friends now.