Getting A Slow For Kids Sign

2026-06-11

I have often seen the slow for kids signs in different neighborhoods. They are often a neon yellow made of a cheap plastic, sometimes they are shaped like a turtle, encouraging drivers to slow down. I have also seen other signs that serve a similar purpose, ‘drive like you live here’, ‘slow for kids’, etc.

And before kids I didn’t think much about them, they are very ugly, but they did usually make me at least look around to see if there were any kids nearby. Sometimes kids dart out from in between places and run into the street and it is terrifying.

And now that we have two kids I look at the sign much differently. I think cars are one of the most dangerous things for kids to be near, I would say that pools are another. Even most wild animals, spoiled food, falling from medium heights, and kitchen knives probably pose less of a lethal threat than most cars. Just the fact that there are so many cars in the US and that they drive relatively quickly mean that they pose a risk to all humans but particularly kids. I do think if we lived off in a farm in the middle of no where with one lane in and out on a gravel road they would pose a smaller threat, and probably if we lived in the middle of New York City they would be an even larger threat, but we live in a suburb and so they are somewhere in between.

And I want to let our little one run around in the front yard a bit, we have a little plastic gate to keep him penned in, but I am thinking about buying on of these obnoxious slow for kids signed just to have the cars driving by slow a little, or be a little extra cautious. Also I will need to keep an eye on both of our kids when we are in the front yard. Thankfully the back yard is closed off and they can mostly run around freely, the worst they can do there is eat small rocks or touch some rose thorns.

-Gary