Rules

     What do you think when you hear the word rules? Do you get a warm, fuzzy feeling? Probably not. But rules aren't all bad, are they? For instance, traffic laws are necessary or your favorite sport or game couldn't be played without them, or how about rules to physics or mathematics, those have come in handy. I'm building up a case to defend myself can you tell?
     As a parent, I have created many rules for my children to follow. Have I done this as a strict dictator on a power trip? Not at all, they are put in place to keep the peace, to have organization and for safety's sake. Which brings me to the topic of the day: Bike safety and general road safety.
     Bike safety is important and I'm not just talking about helmets. An awareness of one's surroundings is vital when taking to the streets or in my kids sake, going on a bike ride...with their mom. I actually could not wait for my kids to be old enough to ride a bike further than the driveway. And as luck would have it, last year was our inaugural ride.
     I souped up my kids bikes, put on their helmets and started down the driveway. "Stop at the bottom of the driveway and look for cars," I said as if casually reminding them of something they already knew.
     "Okay, Mom!" they yelled as cute as can be.
     "Wait! Stop! You didn't look!" I hollered.
     My two kids slowly stopped their bikes, in the middle of the road mind you, and shot me looks of confusion. They had no idea how to look for cars and for some reason, I thought that my three and five year old children instinctively possessed a sense of bike riding. Well, I was wrong.
     So, like any good parent, I taught them the rules: stop, look and listen. I also repeated them every time we went biking. And every time I did, my daughter would say, "We know, Mom." In her defense, she did know them but there was a loop hole in her understanding. My daughter believed that she only needed to look the first time she biked from the driveway to the street. I couldn't believe it, after all of my coaching and talk of getting hit by a car and how much that it would hurt to get hit by a car, she didn't know that she had to look every time she entered the street.
     Eventually, we worked out a system where the kids were allowed to enjoy bike adventures as long as they could tolerate mom's rule reminders. Now everyone is happy, more or less.
     I also transferred these rules to the ever popular ball in road dilemma after witnessing my daughter run straight in front of my neighbor's car. Luckily the neighbor was paying attention and she was not hurt but I nearly had a heart attack. I sat both kids down and did my best to explain that they need to think of their safety first and then the ball.
     "You are more important than a ball. You first, then the ball. You," I pointed at them and held up one finger, "ball." I held up two fingers on my other hand.
     Yes, they laughed and thought mom was funny, but a few weeks later, I got word that my little speech had in fact impacted my babies.
     My sister had been playing soccer with them in the front yard of my parent's cabin. Let me set this up for you, my parent's cabin is located in rural, northern Minnesota, once you are about a half of a mile from the cabin you drive on a dirt road which takes you to another dirt road that leads you to the cabin which is a few houses away from a dead end. I think it's fair to say that it's a pretty quiet place.
     Anyway, the kids and their auntie had been playing for ten minutes or so before I decided to join the game. As I walked outside, the first thing I noticed was Miles standing in the middle of the road holding the soccer ball and naturally I panicked.
     "Miles!" I yelled. "You have to look for cars!"
     "I did!" he yelled back as he resumed play.
     My sister approached me with a smile and said, "he did look, you know. He ran right to the edge of the road, stopped, looked left and then right, then walked out to get the ball."
     "Oh, good," I replied feeling relieved.
     "I know that you have to teach the kids rules about safety and all but I have to say, it was pretty funny to see him treat the dirt road as though it were a freeway. I think I saw a tumbleweed roll by as he searched for traffic," said my sister as she elbowed me.