In a perfect world, there would be a crossing guard and crosswalk on every busy street in the neighborhood. We would dress our children in bright orange vests as we waved goodbye to them at the door, and send them off to school protected by invisible force fields impermeable to cars, strangers, and other dangers.

Unfortunately, my kids have informed me that orange vests are not the fashion these days, and I have yet to locate a retailer who keeps the force field in stock. Our family has had to develop a different strategy to get us across those busy intersections safely. We call this safety strategy “Three Thumbs Up”.

Thumbs up is the signal we make to communicate “all clear and safe to cross” at an intersection. When there are three of us walking together, it takes three thumbs up to cross. After stopping at an intersection and checking all sides of the street and finding it safe we call out “All clear” and give a “Thumbs up” sign . When each of us has had a chance to do this and all thumbs are up, we know we can cross the street together safely - the street has been double and triple checked. Are there four in your group when you walk to school? Great - "Four thumbs Up!"