Mandy Anderson wrote:
....
would never trust thier lives to some speed limit sign or speed bump. We
teach them that the road is for cars and the yard where cars can't go is
for playing.

While staying with my neice in the pediatric ICU, a friends 5 year
old was brought in and put in the room next to ours. He'd been hit by a
car, and looked really bad. He had been playing in his yard, when a
teenager, learning to drive, lost control and backed across the street
into the yard, hitting and dragging him about 10 feet. My friend was
sitting on the front porch watching her kids play, but there was nothing
she could do to stop it.
My point is, cars often go where they "can't". Into yards, the wrong
way on highways, through windows and into buildings.
There is no truely, completely "safe" place for kids to play.

Let the kids be kids. Let them ride their bikes and get skinned
knees. Play baseball with tennis balls and see how many blocks they have
to go to find the ball. Run races, climb, wrestle, and play likes kids.
If they get bruised or scraped up, stand them up, brush them off, apply
bandages and love as required, and send them back for more fun.

But do what's sane to keep the risks at a minimum. As long as the
speed bumps arent too high, or too frequent, dont worry about the fact
that it'll take you all of 2 seconds longer to get home. It's 2 seconds
that could save someones life.

--Shaun
Uncle to Angel Amber, forever 17