10.07. Care Required for Safety of Child

10.07 Care Required for Safety of Child The Committee recommends that no instruction on the care required for the safety of a child be given. Comment The law recognizes the lack of judgment, caution, and discretion of children and requires that an adult reasonably guard against these tendencies. Johnson v. City of St. Charles, 200 Ill.App. 184 (2d Dist. 1916). It requires that an adult use ordinary care to ascertain a child's evident purpose, as for example, that a three-year old probably intends to cross a streetcar track if he approaches it. Liska v. Chicago Rys. Co., 318 Ill. 570, 580, 149 N.E. 469, 474 (1925). However, to state, as some instructions do, that one must anticipate the ordinary behavior of children and exercise greater care for the protection and safety appears to be an argument about what constitutes ordinary care under the circumstances rather than a rule of law. Therefore, the Committee recommends that this type of instruction not be given.