I am closing out the last remaining hour of my birthday and figured I would go ahead and comment on something I witnessed yesterday.  As I was exiting my workplace I caught a lady out of the corner of my eye (loving the LASIK by the way) on the opposite side of the street.  She was holding onto a young child (probably around 5) and bending down to talk to him.   For an unknown reason, I quickly formulated what was going to happen and this discussion that was taking place was to make sure everyone knew the game plan.  They were actually standing between two parallel parked cars just off the curb in the street.  She pointed to my side of the street a couple of times and motioned her arms in an exaggerated running manner obviously trying to convey speed.  This she reiterated a couple of times until she felt the kid understood the mechanics of what was about to happen.  Keep in mind, that this is a three lane one way street in the middle of downtown and used pretty heavily (flowing from her right to left).  She looked to the right, looked to the left (probably a good thing since more than once I’ve seen someone coming the other way), looked back to the right, clinched the kids hand and they started to sprint across the street. 

To the child’s credit, he was booking and they both reached my side of the street safe and sound.  In jubilation, she leaned down and praised the kid and they both gave a little yeah in victory.  Now generally, I am all about positive reinforcement as a learning aid – I also believe in negative feedback but that is a whole different blog topic.  However, in this case I am a little appalled.  I am definitely not going over and start asking a kid inquisitive questions about what drove a previous behavior and how it will impact them in the future.  Actually, fact is, remembering when I was a kid I had no idea why I did half the things I did two minutes after I did them (that sentence brought to you by P-‘Did’dy) – had I, there would be a few less stitch scars on my body.  So now, the young subject has been taught how to cross in the middle of the street (a violation of established pedestrian law)  and been complemented on how well it was performed.  I would have to speculate that the next time he is with his friends, he might re-enact this event – a mentor if you will to his little friends. 

Honestly, that wasn’t really the aspect of the observation that made me ponder.  I was really more interested in the adult’s decision pattern that ultimately resulted in the incident.  What I failed to mention is they were standing less than say 40 ft (three parked cars) from the intersection.  It took her longer to explain to the kid the process than what it would have taken to walk to the corner and cross in a safe (and yes, legal) manner, completely eliminated the threat, stress and risk behavior imprinting. I can also tell you the element that stood out in this scenario and therefore the tipping point for me to take time to document the moment is the building the two had just come out of and standing in front of…. was Peoria’s County Courthouse.  I opted to take the excruciatingly long trek (12 seconds, I counted) to walk to the corner.