Kids playing outside - Parenting question

[Caseheidi]

How old was your child when you let them play outside (front yard) without supervision?

DD is almost 5 (her birthday is this Thursday) and really wants to play out in the neighborhood. As the weather has started improving, I have been letting her play in the front yard as I watch out the window, with it open so I can hear her. And she have very strict rules about staying out of the street, even though we are the second to last house on a dead end with a court across the way.

I see other families in our neighborhood with young children outside alone and wonder if I am being over protective. I feel lucky that I have such a large living room indoor that I can sit on the couch and still see everywhere he goes. I am just curious as to how other parents have managed this growing up issue.

 

[worm761]

How old was your child when you let them play outside (front yard) without supervision?

DD is almost 5 (her birthday is this Thursday) and really wants to play out in the neighborhood. As the weather has started improving, I have been letting her play in the front yard as I watch out the window, with it open so I can hear her. And she have very strict rules about staying out of the street, even though we are the second to last house on a dead end with a court across the way.

I see other families in our neighborhood with young children outside alone and wonder if I am being over protective. I feel lucky that I have such a large living room indoor that I can sit on the couch and still see everywhere he goes. I am just curious as to how other parents have managed this growing up issue.

I have been wondering this too. DD is 4 and plays in the backyard with a privacy fence. I still don't let her out by herself because we have a wooden playset and I am scared she will fall. I am pretty sure I am being paranoid but I have no clue how old she should be to play out by herself.
DS is 17 but we had no yard where we lived so we went to the park and I never let him do that alone.

 

[Disneyhabs]

My kids usually play outside on their own usually street hockey in the mosque parkinglot next to our house. My youngest is 6 she plays outside on her own from time to time but usually with her siblings.

 

[mtemm]

at 5 I still hung outside on the porch. I have 3 kids (now 12/10/10), usually they were out together. now they are out on their own and I'd say its been a few years since I stayed outside when they were. and when I did start letting them out on their own, they were allowed in the backyard before alone in the front yard. Just what I was comfortable with personally.

 

[anniemae]

A lot depends on your neighborhood and the street and traffic etc. My dd 7 plays by herself in the back yard, but I usually sit somewhere where I can see her playing. If she is with her younger brother, I have them stay on the patio since I don't totally trust him not to run in the street, and I sit close by where I can see & hear them.

 

[sam_gordon]

A lot depends on your neighborhood and the street and traffic etc. My dd 7 plays by herself in the back yard, but I usually sit somewhere where I can see her playing. If she is with her younger brother, I have them stay on the patio since I don't totally trust him not to run in the street, and I sit close by where I can see & hear them.

I agree with the bolded. Unfortunately, my kids don't play outside much by themselves. DS(10) started riding his bike to a friends house by himself last year. DD(8) generally won't go outside without someone going with her. She's not scared, she'd just rather be inside on a computer screen.

 

[alicat8]

Mine is still under 2, but I don't think you're being overprotective. I don't really think kids should ever be outside alone(without being watched. I see no problem with watching out a window.)...maybe I've just watched to much investigation discovery... If they're playing outside with other kids, maybe around 7 to be out without an adult?? I feel like that's a good age to be able to handle an emergency situation.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I agree that it depends a lot on where you live, and if there are other kids to play with. I think DS was about seven when he really started having the run of the neighborhood. But it was a gradual road to that point - a little bit here and there.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

My boys are almost 5 and 7. I do let them play outside by themselves. We live on an acre, and they know they are not allowed to go past a certain point of the driveway. I also live in the most boring/quiet neighborhood in America.......

 

[Ginamarie]

My kids are 7 (almost 8), 5 and 3. None of them are allowed to play outside without supervision. If we can get the backyard fence repaired this summer, I will let them in the fenced in area, but not the front yard where the street is.

 

[minkydog]

How old was your child when you let them play outside (front yard) without supervision?

DD is almost 5 (her birthday is this Thursday) and really wants to play out in the neighborhood. As the weather has started improving, I have been letting her play in the front yard as I watch out the window, with it open so I can hear her. And she have very strict rules about staying out of the street, even though we are the second to last house on a dead end with a court across the way.

I see other families in our neighborhood with young children outside alone and wonder if I am being over protective. I feel lucky that I have such a large living room indoor that I can sit on the couch and still see everywhere he goes. I am just curious as to how other parents have managed this growing up issue.

I did not allow mine to play in the front yard, ever. We live in a pretty safe neighborhood but the cars can go pretty fast in my section. I just didn't feel comfortable with that. Kids will be kids. If they kick a ball out in the street they don't look for cars, they just charge into the street. If someone approached them in a car or dragged them into the car, there's no way I could get from the house to the street in time to stop them. Call me overprotective if you will, but that's how I felt them and how I feel now.

We have a large backyard available, with a fort and a swing set. My kids were encouraged to invite their friends over to play ball or build forts or whatever. When they were in middle school I allowed them to put up a tent in the back yard and sleep in it with their friends. We always left the backdoor open in case someone needed to come inside and I always left the window up so I could hear what's going on out there.

 

[Hannathy]

At 5 mine were walking to school alone. That's kindergarten.

Playing in the backyard I would say 3, front yard at 4, at 4 my DS and his 2 buddies were going back and forth with each others yards, same side of street or across the back yard.

By 4-5 I wasn't watching out the window while they played.

 

[goofyintoronto]

I believe my son was about 8 or 9 when I let him play alone out front with friends. As long as friends were there, I was ok with it.

 

[smga1]

I have a 5 and 8 year old. They play in the back yard by themselves. I leave the back door open so I can hear them. They can play on the sidewalk with their scooters going a certain distance. They know they can not cross the street. If the do, they come inside. I check on them every 5 minutes. I live in a townhouse so there is very little front yard.

 

[aprilgail2]

By 4 in the backyard and I guess by 5 or 6 in the front (don't remember for sure)- by 8 she was 2 blocks over at a little park on that corner but always with friends and always had a phone on her- I know that one for sure because it was 4th grade.

 

[pigletgirl]

That isn't being a helicopter parent, but it is an attentive one! Nothing wrong with that.

I would prefer my kids to play in the backyard as it would be safer.

 

[Bluestars]

My kids were probably around 8. Growing up, I knew a girl whose best friend was murdered when she went to a store by herself so maybe that made me overprotective. I would rather be safe than sorry.

 

[nene0182]

My son was around 8 when we moved to our current neighborhood and I started letting him play outside by himself and go to his friends. Our old neighborhood had a lot if traffic bad college students. We now live in a family neighborhood on a quiet one way street so I feel a lot safer now. He's almost 11 and is able to ride his bike to school, the park and friends within about a 5 block radius

 

[aprilgail2]

That isn't being a helicopter parent, but it is an attentive one! Nothing wrong with that.

I would prefer my kids to play in the backyard as it would be safer.

Till what age? You can't keep them locked up back there until they are teenagers. This year is a big one for me-my daughter and her friends are 14 and last weekend she and her friend took the train into NYC alone for the first time to go to a flea market in hells kitchen. They are planning on taking a 2 hour train ride in June, bringing their bikes and going bike riding out in Montauk, just the three of them. They are all at the age where they need to spread their wings some!

 

[Hannathy]

Till what age? You can't keep them locked up back there until they are teenagers. This year is a big one for me-my daughter and her friends are 14 and last weekend she and her friend took the train into NYC alone for the first time to go to a flea market in hells kitchen. They are planning on taking a 2 hour train ride in June, bringing their bikes and going bike riding out in Montauk, just the three of them. They are all at the age where they need to spread their wings some!

I agree