Pole licking and road crossing

So it is A Christmas Story season yet again. One of the most fundamental of traditional holiday tv fare, (along with A Charlie Brown Christmas and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer). A Christmas Story is the only one that has ingrained such a valuable public service to my formative youth. Since I watched it early in life, I realized quickly that BB Guns *are* dangerous, watch out for falling icicles, Santa is evil, and most of all... never lick a frozen pole.

I'm wondering now, how many people actually have licked the pole out of curiosity? I was reminded that not everyone got the message when sis's little one actually tried it. Why? Because it just looked like it needed to be tasted. I think I will make this movie manditory this year, maybe prevent just one more from the mass removal of tastebuds.

This got me thinking about another common sense practice that it seems a portion of youngster's must not have been exposed to. Proper methods for crossing a busy street. There are too many times to count as all three schools are let out near the four way stop, kids just walk into the road expecting the car sees them and will stop. If the crossing guard isn't present, they'll just dash up from behind you and run across, and even though drivers are on high alert for pedestrians, there is still the potential for them getting missed in the middle of a blind spot and hit. Those are the kids taking the crosswalk... now the other problem set are the ones dashing across to go straight to the coffee shop. There really should be a crosswalk there. I saw a boy yesterday, barely on the sidewalk posed for a sprinters mark. The car on one side was nice, and yielded, the one on the opposite side didn't stop, and the kid had to stop in the turn lane.

I was always taught to cross the crosswalk every time, even if it is out of the way. But, who can blame them, I'd probably be dashing for the coffee shop after school too. Maybe instead we should build them a pedestrian crossing... or better yet, a habit-trail with a slide at the other end. Wait, remembering the pee smell of the ladder tube of the old Baranof park jungle gym, maybe tubes would be a bad idea. Or just accept the fact that the kids are going to be kids and dash across the street anywhere along the sidewalk, so we must be on extra vigilent watch.