Nightmare Scenario

     When I was growing up, my worst fear was knives. Something about the thought of knives just made my skin crawl.  When I was about 6 years old, my mom started referring to knives as "sharps".  I had a baby brother and she wanted him to stay away from those dangerous utensils. So why not call it like it is... sharp. Don't touch it. She may have been onto something.
     These days I seem to be over my knife phobia.  Perhaps it's because I've watched so many CSI, NCIS and ER episodes.  Nowadays it's cars that are my worst nightmare.  I'm even a bit reluctant to admit it on "paper" but it's true.  I have the worst nightmares about cars and my kids.  Knives were close and personal- maybe that's why they haunted me. But cars are big and powerful and kids are so small and vulnerable.  So as you can imagine, I've spent quite a bit of time explaining to Liam & Josh to stay clear of cars with their red reverse lights on.  I try to rationalize with Joshua as he squirms away why he needs to keep holding my hand in a parking lot.  I've been so proud of Liam each time he calls out "car" on a bike ride... even when he pulls over for cars that are parked.  He's the only kid on the block... maybe the world... who actually looks both ways before chasing his ball into the street. Yet just this Thursday afternoon there Liam was on his bike aimlessly drifting into the oncoming traffic of a main road.
     It was a sunny afternoon and we were all out for a walk.  Liam was riding his new bike which, we soon discovered, lets him ride much faster than he used to.  So he was up ahead while I rolled Josh in the stroller with Bill and my dad poking along behind.  We kept telling Liam to stop.  Stop at the mailbox, stop at the sign,... and each time he'd go a little bit further than he was told.  Several times I found myself shouting stop and running after him.  One time though, he just didn't stop...even when the sidewalk ended, Liam just kept going- actually veering left into the main road.  Up ahead there were cars coming into his lane.  My dad quickly ran into the road and helped him safely across.  Looking back, all I remember is freezing but Bill tells me that he saw me running towards Liam.  All was well... except for my imagination.  What if the cars were a little bit closer?  What if a car was in the other lane, coming from behind us? 
     I told Liam it's better to fall of a bike onto a sidewalk or grass than ever ride into the road.  He said he couldn't stop and didn't want to fall.  How do you explain the danger of cars to kids?  Liam thinks he's Superman.  Once he actually told me he would just push a car away. 
     Whatever I told him, clearly wasn't enough.  The next day he was standing next to his father as a car in a parking lot came around a corner quickly.  I clearly said, "Stay where you are Liam" but somehow Liam decided to run across to me anyway.  In his defence, he said he was running because he saw the car was coming, but that rationality just doesn't work when it comes to cars.  So once again my imagination got away from me.  Maybe we should follow my mom's lead.  Like calling knives "sharps"... we could call cars "heavies" or "hurts".  Hmmm.... I don't think that's going to work.  Maybe instead I should just teach Liam how to fall off of his bike into the grass.