My bad driving habits came back to haunt me on a bike ride with the kids last week. Nut Brown and I with Bobo in tow were riding home from the park. We're coming up to a light at a fairly busy road. It's green, and then it turns yellow, and Nut Brown speeds up. I yell at him to stop stop STOP and he does, sliding to a stop with his back wheel turning to the side- very dramatic. But the important thing was that he stopped, because by now the light was red.
I explained that when I'm driving in the car, sometimes I speed up for yellow lights. But on a bike, yellow ALWAYS means stop. ALWAYS. He was a bit grumpy, I think because he felt he could have made the light, but I insisted. When he was under two, Mr. Brown and I used to say to each other that we'd be surprised if he made it to eighteen, because he was constantly climbing on things and jumping off of things. He got better at that (now he climbs and jumps more safely) but now it looks like it may be his bike that keeps him from getting to eighteen.
A few days later we were riding to the farmers' market (we ride our bikes kind of a lot). A big yellow garbage truck had pulled up and was blocking the sidewalk while waiting to turn, so I called to the kids to stop and wait, rather than trying to go around it. Nut Brown grinned big and said, yeah, Mom, because yellow always means stop for bikes!
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