Ready Kids › Out and About › Badge 1 › Lesson 1.4
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The car that stops
Step back from any car that stops for you, whoever is in it, and walk the way it is not facing.
1Watch
The window comes down
The window comes down
A quiet street. A kid is walking. A car slows to walking pace beside her and the passenger window comes down. A voice says her name, or something like it. The film stops with the kid half turned towards the window.
20 secondsIt might be somebody she knows. That is not the question yet.
2The idea
Whoever it is, you do not go to the window
A car has a door, and the door is the whole problem. On the pavement you can walk away from anybody. Two steps closer, you are within reach of something that can leave at thirty miles an hour. So the rule has no exceptions. You do not approach a car. Not for directions, not for a lost dog, not for somebody who says they know your mum.
If it really is your aunt, she will not mind you stepping back. If she minds, that tells you something.
3The idea
Four moves, in order, every time
Step back. Two big steps away from the kerb, so there is pavement between you and the door. You can still see and hear from there.
Say it. “No thanks, I’m fine.” Normal voice. Nothing else.
Turn. Face the way the car is not pointing.
Walk. Towards people, not away from them.
A car cannot follow you backwards down a street. To follow you it has to turn round, which takes time and looks strange. Walking the other way takes you one second, and you have already said everything you need to say.
4The idea
It is your neighbour, and it is raining
Say the window comes down and it is Mrs Okafor from three doors up, offering a lift because it is pouring. You like her. You have been in her car. You still take two steps back before you answer, because that is where you answer cars from.
You say “No thanks, I’m fine.” She says suit yourself, and drives off. You are wet for four more minutes. The move was the same as for a stranger, and that is the point. If you only did it for strangers, you would have to decide who is a stranger, in the rain, in three seconds.
5Decide
The window is down. What is your first move?
Pick one to carry on.
6Look
The way the car is not facing
The turn
A kid on a pavement, the car beside them pointing left. The kid is walking right. A dotted line shows the car would need to turn all the way round to follow.
Turning a car round on a street takes time and looks strange. Walking the other way takes you one second. Then head for people.
7Find them
Which of these are true when a car stops for you?
Tap the ones that count.
Find all 4.
8Your turn
Three cars, three feelings
Dial and choice
Three short scenes: a neighbour offering a lift in the rain, a stranger asking for directions, a driver who says your mum sent him. For each one, set the Feeling Dial first, then pick your move. The move is the same all three times. The dial is not.
The dial is allowed to say Fine. Your feet still do the same thing. That is what makes it a rule and not a mood.
9Say it
What you say from two steps back
Say this in your normal voice, and mean it
“No thanks, I'm fine”
It works for the lift, the directions and the message from your mum. Then you turn and walk. You do not owe them the rest of the conversation.
10Do it
Before you leave this page
Stand in your hallway and practise it, out loud: two steps back, say "No thanks, I'm fine", turn, walk the other way. Three times. Have a parent play the car. It should feel a bit silly. That is fine.
Tick it when you have done it.
Lesson done.
Never approach a car. Step back, not forward. Walk the way the car is not facing.
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