I just saw the most beautiful thing...and it turned my stomach. On this lovely spring day, a dad was out for a bike ride with his little girl on the back of his bike, and they were laughing and chatting. So what was the problem? Well, I'll start with this: neither one had a helmet on. But while Dad was unable to take 3 minutes to protect the lives of himself and his daugher, he had plenty of time to put in his earbud for his phone or MP3 player, I don't know which. So I don't even know if he was laughing and chatting with his little girl or someone else!
So, I don't mean to nag total strangers but please please please wear your bike helmets and make sure your kids do too. My kids don't love them either. But when our kids were very little, we started with the phrase in the post's title. If one of our sons fussed that he didn't want to be in his carseat, we explained that the seatbelts keep us all safe, and keeping them safe was another way we say "we love you," so think of that harness like a big long hug from mommy or daddy. Same thing for bike helmets. Or holding hands in parking lots. Or whatever else it is that keeps our kids safe.
We don't want them growing up to be afraid of the world. But there are safe ways to move in it, and we'd like to keep them as safe as we can, and teaching them "Safety is how we say we love you" has really sweetened some unpopular decisions, and works for us!
For more Works for Me Wednesday ideas, visit Rocks in my Dryer!
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I totally agree with everything you said. Saying it that way, "Safety is how we say we love you," is a great way to put it to kids who may not want to do anything. Another bad thing about that dad riding along with music in his ears is he may not even hear approaching danger.
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