That's a pretty big straw man. Even at 8mph if a toddler wanders into the road you are going to have a pretty big jolt from slamming on the brakes. If you've never been driving at or below posted and safe speeds in a neighborhood and still had to slam on the brakes because a child's ball bounces into the street (invariably followed by the child), you are quite lucky.
Even with 100 feet to spare, you still slam on the brakes because when a kid wanders into the road, that's what is safest.
Even if I would have braked I would have hit the little guy. So I just swerved to the other side of the road. If it had been packed with cars I would have probably killed him, there was absolutely no way the car was going to stop in time. Very bad experience. I got out very fast to scoop the little man+bike out of traffic and hand him back to his mom, we were both shaking like leafs. They're so quick.
Even with 100 feet to spare, you still slam on the brakes because when a kid wanders into the road, that's what is safest.