kids playing outside

[anniemae]

What age do you let your children play outside unsupervised?

Neighborhood kids are constantly ringing our bell looking to play with my dd. It is getting a little annoying since they always knock at the worst times like when I am stepping out of the shower, dd is throwing a tantrum, we are sitting down for dinner etc. I feel like I have to go out with her since we live on a busy street, or at least be able to be outside.

I have a friend who got tired of kids ringing the bell so she "trained" them that if they were outside it was fine to come on over and play, but if they were not outside they were not available to play. I need to ask how she did this! I don't mind once in a while, but it's getting crazy!

 

[mjkacmom]

Three to play in the back yard, four and up for the front, no crossing the street, six or seven for in the area, maybe eight to ring doors? We only have one family on the street with kids the same age as my kids, across the street, but growing up, we lived on a great street with lots of kids, and we'd go from house to house inviting kids out to play - it was awesome!

 

[SLP958]

3-4 for the backyard that is fenced in.

DS is 5 and I still go out front with him. We dont have any other kids near by but I wish we did.

 

[anniemae]

Thanks, thats what I was figuring. I really wish we did not live on such a busy street, it makes me nervous. Drivers constantly fly down the road way too fast. I would love a nice cul de sac where they could roam!

 

[Sparkly]

I never had the luxury of playing outside in the road with friends, as growing up there were very few other kids on my road, yet on the back road there were tons. I always wished we lived back there! We also live on a main road.

I spent hours playing outside in the garden as a kid instead.

 

[runsandjumps]

Backyard is no problem as its fenced with a green belt behind. Front is on a cul de sac but I still go out there and my oldest is almost 7. They usually want to play in the road, riding bikes or skateboarding so I have to look out for cars. Maybe when my youngest is 6 I will let them stay outside more.

 

[superme80]

I let DS play by himself in the backyard. He is 4. They are not allowed out front without permission. Most kids their age live down the street, so I don't have to deal with neighborhood kids coming over. My mom used to put a sign up when we lived in Navy Housing. If it was red the kids could not ring the doorbell. If it was green they could and ask my sister to come out to play.

 

[HelenePA]

Yep! My youngest is allowed to go to the park behind our house (seriously behind my house) with his older siblings with out me. There are many many many many kids in my neighborhood and over the age of 5 all are unsupervised. Today I was over there with them for a little bit just to get out of the house. I live in a very small town. If it was a city or a place with crime it would probably be different. I looovveee where I live.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I used to let my kids(at 4-5 years old) play in our fenced in yard in TX. I would just leave the sliding glass door open, and I could see them from my living room.

In our house here, I go out with them. I can't see our backyard. I don't stay right on top of them though. They can go around the corner on their bikes(they're 6 now and was live on a corner lot) and I'm usually doing something else outside like yard work. We live on busy street so I don't really want them playing outside of the yard alone yet.

 

[Kellydelly]

I think that if you don't want the neighbor kids knocking on your door, all you need to do is tell them! Do what your friend did and tell them if you are out already then your child can play. I didn't think it was cool when a little girl (6) from across the neighborhood kept showing up on my doorstep every weekend to play. I don't send my kids around looking for entertainment (although we do have one neighbor friend who welcomes kids knocking on her door because she likes her boys having someone to play with constantly). A couple weeks ago a neighbor sent her 2 yr old down our way on his 3 wheeler with his 5 yr old sister. She was mortified when she came down a while later and found him following my 9 yr old into the street (I was quite pissed that she was made to feel responsible for him). My husband was outside doing something with my vehicle and was not paying attention to the kids (not that he was supposed to be). Send your 5 yr old to my yard to play, but not your toddler!

 

[Mom_Rides]

We supervise DD outside. We live on a dead end street with only our house and two others so traffic is not a concern. But, we don't live in a great area. We have a school across the street from us and there are 2 nice playgrounds for DD to play on. But those playgrounds tend to attract the neighborhood hoodlums...eh teenagers...and that makes me uncomfortable leaving her alone outside. If DSS12 is outside, DD may play outside without us as long as he is nearby.

 

[fairestoneofall]

in our previous house, i couldn't always see them when they were outside. so, they were only allowed to be out together once DD was 8.5. we lived on a quiet cul de sac and they were always out with neighbor kids. but still, they had to be outside together.

we moved two years ago and now i can see them when they're outside. so, i'll let one of them play in the backyard by herself/himself. there are almost always neighbor kids out too, so it's very rare that one of them is playing alone. they're still usually out there together. or, since we have a lot of girls in our little area, sometimes DS just doesn't feel like being around all the girls (so, he stays inside). DD is 11, so i'm fine with her being outside playing with her friends.

 

[Minerva Mouse]

OUTSIDE?

You mean children still do this?

 

[mimmi]

We moved into our house when our daughter was 2 years old and I let her play outside from the beginning.
All our neighbours' kids are in the same age group so our bell is also timging all the time, especially during winter when the kids come to play inside.

Sometimes it's annoying but in the end I rather open the door a few times than having to play family or fake tea party with her myself .

 

[eliza61]

I think mine were 6 or 7 when we let them outside by themselves. they were very lucky in that we had at least 7 other boys their age so our door bell was constantly ringing. truthfully I didn't mind (at least most of the time, LOL). I was a believer in "safety in numbers". 8 little boys playing in the street tends to be hard to miss and usually led to a number of us moms always checking on them.

 

[lovin'fl]

My girls were about 6-7 when I started letting them play outside w/out me sitting out there with them. We lived in the country(ish) in NC on a 1 acre lot on a cul de sac and my twin DDs' BFF was across the street. My DS (older than my DDs) was about 8 when I started to let him go outside w/out me (when he was 7, we lived in a different house in a busier neighborhood). When DDs were almost 8 and DS almost 10, we moved to MD into a very busy large neighborhood (on a busy thru street) and I went back to keeping a more watchful eye on them. They were walkers to the elementary school and I would NOT let them walk to/from alone (I'd take/get them). I finally started letting them walk from the MS at about 12 (I still take my DDs-8th grade to the school but that's more to be on time). There have been a few incidents in our area where creepers have tried to get kids in their cars...so I have been more careful here.

 

[PollyannaMom]

There are five kids in DS's year on our cul-de-sac, and we started letting them out together the summer between first and second grade.

(I actually kind of miss when they were little and we would all sit out with them. I felt closer to the other moms because the interaction was built in, whereas I'm not one to just pick up a phone and call to do something out of the blue.)

Anyway, there are lots of other kids as well, and years when the ringing got to be too much, I did use the red/green sign someone else mentioned.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I must have been very overprotective of my children when they were smaller. I didn't let mine out of my site until the age of 8 or so but I was always very close by of not watching from a distance.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

My kids have been allowed to go in our fenced backyard since age 3. We just started letting our 10 year old go in the front yard unaccompanied in the past year. DD is 7, and she is not allowed to go out without an adult. We live on a cul-de-sac with many other children, but sometimes people come in to the cul-de-sac driving too fast. We also have a street beside our house (we are on the corner) that my kids are not allowed to go on because of speeders.

 

[lillygator]

I don't let the girls play outside alone...they are 10 and 8, but we have a pool so I feel the need to supervise.