Little Ted was walking along a wall holding onto his Daddy’s hand. He was stepping very carefully so he didn’t slip and felt excited to be up higher than usual.
“Look Daddy, there’s a pink plant. It has very big flowers”
“Yes it does Little Ted, it’s called a Hydrangea and it’s your Granny’s favourite flower.”
“And look over there Daddy, that house has sunflowers outside it, just like ours.”
Little Ted liked to walk along this wall because it was fairly wide and flat, although he did have to squeeze around the occasional lamp post.
“Right then Little Ted, you’ll have to jump down now so we can cross the road.” said his Daddy. “Now where do you think would be a safe place to cross? Remember you have to stop and look both ways before you start crossing.”
“Not here” Little Ted said “There’s too many parked cars. I can’t see if anything is coming.”
“Very good Little Ted, shall we go further up where the road is clearer.”
Little Ted looked and remembered the story he had been told at nursery about Cyril the Squirrel. Cyril was always in a hurry and didn’t take time to stop before trying to cross the road. One day he almost stepped out in front of a car. What a fright Cyril got. After that, he only crossed the road at a pedestrian crossing or with a lollipop man.
“I see a lolly man. We should cross there” Little Ted said.
“Well spotted Little Ted, let’s go and say Hello. Although I think their proper name is school crossing patrol or crossing guard.”
“Hello Mr Lolly Man, is this a good place to cross the road?”
“Hello young man. Yes it is if you wait for me to stop the traffic. I have to look until there aren’t many cars coming and I hold up my sign so they know I want them to stop. Do you see that word on that sign? It says STOP.”
“What happens if they don’t stop? Little Ted asked.
“I’ll let you into a secret” said the lollipop man. “See that black area on my sign under the word STOP? If a vehicle doesn’t stop I take a note of their licence plate number and I write it there on my sign with chalk. Then once I’m finished for the day I can report them to the police – the police take failing to stop very seriously and will speak to the driver.”
Little Ted and his Daddy waited patiently until all the vehicles had come to a stop and the crossing guard said it was safe to cross.
“Bye bye” Little Ted said as they crossed the road “See you again soon.”
When they were back at home, Little Ted decided he wanted to dress up as a lollipop man and help his toys cross safely. He found a bright yellow waistcoat that his Daddy wore when he was cycling and a long cardboard tube. His Daddy got a paper plate and wrote STOP on it with big bold letters and taped it to the tube. Then Little Ted pretended that the hallway was a road and when his Daddy or Mummy was walking past he held up the sign and got them to wait until all the toys had crossed to the other side.
“And remember Daddy, you’ve got to do as I say otherwise I’ll have to report you to the Police” Little Ted said.
“Oh dear” said his Daddy “I’d better be on my best behaviour then and always Stop when you tell me to.”
The End