Do your kids play in the street unsupervised?

[sleepyone]

I was reading through another post and just had to ask the question. It's my pet peeve to see (little) kids in the streets alone without a parent nearby. There is no way my kids would be allowed in the front yard with out my supervision. The backyard is fenced in and they can cut loose back there.

I daily see kids riding or walking to school in the street and playing on the way to school. Our community does have sidewalks. They must not know the rules of the road (or maybe they don't care?). I'd bet most parents don't know their little "Jimmy" is laying in the middle of the road, or throwing their basketball over the passing cars. Or that "Susie" thinks it's fun to run across the street with her eyes closed.

Anyway...just ranting.

Edited to change the title.

 

[JVL1018]

Mine don;t..we live on a side street that people use as a cut though, so we probably get a car going by every 5 minutes or so. No way.

When I was a kid I did though..we lived on a dead end and were the last house, the neighbors across the street had 3 boys our age so no one was speeding down there. Besides our 2 houses there were 6 houses and 3 of them had kids, so all the neighbors were aware that there were kids running around all the time and drove accordingly.
If I lived there today, I'd let my kids play on the street, but only in a situation like that.

 

[cardaway]

I know modern home communities are short on space but IMO letting your kid ever play in the street is not only totally irrepsonsible, it's also rude to your neighbors who have to drive through your child's playspace.

 

[islandbeachnut]

We live in a quiet, rural area. Our house is on a dead end street and if someone isn't coming to our driveway, they have no business coming down our road as our's is the only driveway on the street. We are located in a very nice subdivision, and chose our location because the elementary school is about 7 houses away (maybe 5-6 min. walk).

My kids use the road as an extension of our driveway to ride there bikes & scooters on. There is also a basketball hoop at the end of the road for the neighborhood kids to play with. My oldest is in 6th grade (12 y.o) and he's been walking to and from school since the second grade. My youngest two prefer to catch the school bus.

I have never once questioned their safety & I'm a protective mom.

 

[ZuZugal]

We're on a straight-away leading to a cul-de-sac (only 5 houses past ours) and all of the kids on our street play hockey/ride bikes in the street so we all watch out for each other.

 

[Southern4sure]

I voted no because I have never let my children play or ride their bikes in the street. We do have sidewalks and I do not mind my kids playing in the front yard. We live on a semi-long dead end curvy road with a 20 mph speed limit so it shouldn't be a problem. But thats another story.

My youngest is 10 and my oldest 16 (which he is into work, computers and hanging up at the lodge).

I do know what you mean because I see it all the time.

 

[In a hurry]

We ride bikes in the street per the law, but 3 houses on the street have those stupid basketball nets on the road!!!! What the heck are they thinking?!

 

[sakura-panda]

We live on a cul-de-sac, so there are always kids playing in the street. My ds is only two and he is not allowed to go past the sidewalk. We also have a very large yard -- part of the reason we chose this house -- so I don't see any reason for him to play in the road even when he is older.

There was one day where he was riding his tricycle up and down the sidewalk, and several of the neighbor's kids -- between 3 and 6 years old, I think they were -- were standing in the road, watching him. I don't know what that was all about.

--Katie

 

[helenabear]

I voted yes, but I do not have kids. However, in this neighborhood, kids do play in the street. We are lucky where we live and it is more of a "flashback to hte past" kind of community. Doors aren't always locked, neighbors look out for you, and you actually wave and say hi to someone as you pass whether you know them or not.

So in my neighborhood kids do play in the street and honestly I love it Brings a lot of charm to my community

 

[Cruisin]

My kids are 19 and 22, so they are past playing outside in the street now but they always did, and all the kids in our neighborhood still do.

We are on a crescent off of a very small dead end street (15 houses in total).

 

[txaggiemomof3]

We live on a quiet cul de sac so yes, I do let my kids "play" in the street. By play I mean I let them ride their bikes around the cul de sac while I sit in my lawn chair and watch them. If a car comes, they move quickly to the side of the road. We have never had any problems. For any other activity, they either play in the backyard or in the driveway. They are not allowed in the front unsupervised (oldest is 9 yrs. old). My pet peeve is seeing young kids playing unsupervised in the front - that really bugs me!

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I have 4 kids--6, 12, 15, and 18. I don't let my 6yo play in the street. If he's playing basketball that's done in our driveway. If he wants to ride his bike, play on a scooter, etc, that can be done in our driveway or on the sidewalk (he still has training wheels--when they are off and he's really "riding" his bike it will be different). He plays catch with a baseball, which is done at his age in the grass. My older son, though, plays football, and other games in the street. We live in a very small neighborhood of two cul-de-sac streets, so no through traffic. The kids are older and move out of the way when there are cars. I'll have to say, though, that some kids are younger and aren't so good at watching, but my kids are not allowed in the street until they are old enough to watch for cars and move out of the way.

But no, I don't let young kids in the street. If we didn't have sidewalks I would let the kids ride bikes around the cul-de-sac as long as I was outside watching for cars.

 

[Nancy]

My kids are older now but when younger they did not play in the street at all. We live in a small village and I live on one of two streets that connect two main roads so we get a lot of traffic and it is usually very fast. We have a church parking lot 1 house away so they kids usually played there, that is where they rode bikes, skated, played games, etc. Most times they were outside by themselves, but before they were 5 they were never outside alone unless they were in the backyard. (fenced in with a lock on the gate)

 

[MoniqueU]

I voted no because my kids don't really. Except to be about 2 feet into the street to take shots into the neighbors basketball hoop. IF they want to ride bikes in the street I am out there with them. We live on a tiny steet with 4 houses on either side. Mostly my kids play in the backyard where the pool is.

 

[golfgal]

I voted yes, but I do not have kids. However, in this neighborhood, kids do play in the street. We are lucky where we live and it is more of a "flashback to hte past" kind of community. Doors aren't always locked, neighbors look out for you, and you actually wave and say hi to someone as you pass whether you know them or not.

So in my neighborhood kids do play in the street and honestly I love it Brings a lot of charm to my community

Sounds like our town. There are many streets where kids play in the street (mostly dead end or cul-de-sacs though). I find that the streets that don't have sidewalks have more kids playing in the street. Our house now has sidewalks so the kids ride bikes on those. Our old house was on a dead end and EVERYONE played in the street. Kids don't play in the street on the busy streets in town. We don't have "play dates" here either, kids just meet up where ever there is a gang of kids and play, it's really nice.

 

[Southern4sure]

I voted no because my kids don't really. Except to be about 2 feet into the street to take shots into the neighbors basketball hoop. IF they want to ride bikes in the street I am out there with them. We live on a tiny steet with 4 houses on either side. Mostly my kids play in the backyard where the pool is.

You do realize you opened another can of worms.....

 

[ckay87]

Hmmm - define "play." Here's why - what do you call riding bikes & scooters up and down a street? If that's playing then I guess I do, now that I think about it. Now if we had sidewalks, they wouldn't be "in" the street. Ours is a very quiet street and my kids are not little, so I don't worry about it, sorry.

 

[LoriKay]

I've ranted about this before. We live on a U-shaped street which connects to a main street on both ends. All of our neighbors, along with all of their children, congregate in the street each day about 4:15pm and for the next 2 hours it is chaos. There are 21 kids from 8 houses and only 3 of them are school age so I'm talking little kids. They all have 1 or 2 of those motorized jeep things that they drive in the street then all over our yard and through our landscaping while their parents stand there watching. There are toys scattered all over the street and when, heaven forbid, someone in a vehicle actually wants to the use the street for what it is intended, the parents have to scurry around getting kids and toys and jeeps out of the way. While the car trying to get through has to come to a standstill and wait. It drives me crazy. Oh, and we have sidewalks and all of these people have large backyards.

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

yes - we live on a quiet cul-de-sac with no sidewalks. Kids are taught to move once an adult yells "car!". I don't think it is rude in our case - as everyone is cool with it and toys are never left out in street or anything. I guess the kids mainly ride bikes, scooters - that kind of thing...organized games and such they take down to the common circle area or someone's yard.

 

[BethR]

I would bet that a huge percent of those who answered "Yes" to this question do not have sidewalks where they live or convenient playgrounds.

in this neighborhood, kids do play in the street. We are lucky where we live and it is more of a "flashback to hte past" kind of community. Doors aren't always locked, neighbors look out for you, and you actually wave and say hi to someone as you pass whether you know them or not.

So in my neighborhood kids do play in the street and honestly I love it Brings a lot of charm to my community

Sounds like our street too! I have always felt so blest to have been able to raise our children on this street.

So yes, our kids play(ed) in the street.