At what age did you allow??

[Mayzoo]

At what age did you allow your daughter/or son to be alone in your own fenced backed yard (difficult to get out of) for approximately 10 minutes? Hey did you know you can't edit polls after the fact?? Please feel free to answer for either sons or daughters!!


Separate from poll:

P.S. If you want to expand, also how old was you daughter/son when she was allowed to be alone in said back yard for 20 minutes?

This is an active debate amongst parents in my area......so as many answers as I can get would be greatly helpful.

 

[Melanie3]

Oh that's been a while for me. Maybe the age of six? At the very least I peered out the back window very frequently, even so!!!

 

[Leanna]

Well our kitchen has a glass sliding door and a nice window over the sink overlooking the backyard, and its fenced, and I let David go out there last summer so long as I could see him, and I plan to do the same this year. I put locks that needed a key on the gates. If I stay inside then it is in the kitchen. Other times I sit on the porch with a good book.

 

[Linnis]

I'd probably allow it with an under four child. Here we don't have a fenced in yard so even at 8 my nephew never went anywhere outside without me.

 

[united4Peace]

As I dont have a daughter I can't answer the poll however with my sons it was about 3 yrs old unless there was a pool set up...then about 4-5 and I always checked up on them through the "K" window...every 10-15 min...by that time they were playing w/ the neighbours all the time and I had the whole neighbourhood in my yard so it wasnt just my kids I was keeping an eye on but everyone's...and when my kids would run next door the neighbours would keep an eye on mine...(I guess all the adults watched out for all the kids in that way).

 

[CelticRose]

As we still don't have fences all I can say is she was 3 or 4 when she was allowed outside on her own so long as I could see her from a window ~ & I checked frequently! I should also point out we have little traffic & it is very rural where we live.

 

[Mayzoo]

I guess the gender the is not relevant. My kiddo is a girl, and I tend to think young girls get nabbed, and abused more than young boys--but I also logically know that is most likely not true . On the other hand some young boys (or girls hehe...I was a tom boy) would be more likely to get hurt in the backyard than my girlie who is very cautious due to balance issues related to medical conditions....so gender does not really matter.

I'll edit the poll to remove the gender :o. But, the fence is a fairly relevant issue since it does provide a bit more protection.

My daughter has a slew of medical "issues" (autism, speech delays, balance issues etc....) that cannot be quantified, so I am just looking for what parents do for the average kiddo.

Thanks a bunch!!

 

[GolfingMom]

YS was 2, OS was 4. The back side of our house is all windows and sliding glass doors so they are in constant view.

 

[Caffeinated]

I guess the gender the is not relevant. My kiddo is a girl, and I tend to think young girls get nabbed, and abused more than young boys--but I also logically know that is most likely not true . On the other hand some young boys (or girls hehe...I was a tom boy) would be more likely to get hurt in the backyard than my girlie who is very cautious due to balance issues related to medical conditions....so gender does not really matter.

I'll edit the poll to remove the gender :o. But, the fence is a fairly relevant issue since it does provide a bit more protection.

My daughter has a slew of medical "issues" (autism, speech delays, balance issues etc....) that cannot be quantified, so I am just looking for what parents do for the average kiddo.

Thanks a bunch!!

A friend watched some news program a while back where they sent a guy out in a car to test the typical 'lines' abductors use on children, like, "Can you help me find my lost puppy?" Apparently most of the girls he approached were very cautious and stayed away from the car or ran away, while most of the boys would approach the car, talk to the guy, try to help him. They concluded that many parents have the perception that the girls will be targeted but not the boys, so a lot of parents don't teach their boys the same safety tips as they teach the girls.
Sorry...wandering off-topic a little bit, but I thought that was really interesting!

Anyway...I answered 4 & under. I think it was a bit younger than 4, but I was at the window most of the time.

 

[BarbBlessed]

3 or 4 - hard to remember her exact age now.
We're the only house on a long dirt road, and I was more worried about Joanna wandering off or an animal wandering in than anything else. My husband put up a fence though, and we were comfortable letting Joanna play out there alone.

 

[Laurie919]

Did you know they can stay home alone at 10 after school. Not for long, but they are called latchkey kids and can lock themselves in the house. Several of the kids in my neighborhood do it.

 

[HeKnowsMyName]

Oh that's been a while for me. Maybe the age of six? At the very least I peered out the back window very frequently, even so!!!

Me too! I'd have been better off just going out there with her.

 

[united4Peace]

Did you know they can stay home alone at 10 after school. Not for long, but they are called latchkey kids and can lock themselves in the house. Several of the kids in my neighborhood do it.

My children do at times depending on hours Im working or dh is working...and they do a great job...have taught them all the safety...there is a course on staying home alone that one takes at 10 and my DS is also excited about taking the babysitting course now that he is 11 (offered through St John's Ambulance) .


I dont let them stay home past certain hrs...and they know the rules when they are alone...

 

[~Mrs. A2J~]

I think my daughter was around 3. We live off a dirt road though out in the country where the only traffic is an occasional farmer or the mail being delivered. We also have a fenced in yard. I'm not sure I would have let DD be out alone if we were in a neighborhood with traffic, no fence etc. I pass through a neighborhood on my way home from town where young children are allow to just roam free outside and I always worry that one is going to run out in front of my car.

 

[Athene]

She was about 2 or 3, the house we lived in at the time had a huge back garden surrounded by high fences, I would sit in the conservatory reading a book while she and her little brother ran around the garden playing.

 

[JulySheMustFly]

My 6year old is allowed in the back yard unsupervised without a problem. My 4 year old is allowed out alone if we are in the living room. We have a large sliding door that shows our whole yard from the living room. My 2 year old (soon to be 3 year old) is only allowed out with his sisters if I'm in the living room and only for a very short amount of time.

 

[MyaShane]

Around 3 for us. We have large double doors off the kitchen onto the deck into the back yard and we've kid proofed the yard as much as possible, and too, our dog is always out there with them. With my girls, they usually make so much ruckus while playing and seem to come banging on the door needing something every 2.5 minutes anyway that it's never been a problem.

 

[CarrieAg93]

Around 3 I think, but only if the weather was nice enough so I could leave the door or window open so I could hear him. My kids never really liked playing outside by themsleves so they weren't out there long before my participation in some game was requested.

 

[marezee]

well...my boys are 5,4, and 2.

We have a fenced in yard with three gates. I put a clip lock on the gates so they cannot get out.
The only time I leave them alone in the yard is when I have to go to the bathroom.

I haven't yet left them alone in our yard for any other reason.

B4 we go out, i make sure i bring with us what we need.

 

[sparassidae]

I voted 6 years old. That's for about 10 minutes of no checking. I will let a child out with checks every couple of minutes from about 3yo.

We haven't lived in a house yet that has a kitchen overlooking the backyard, that would make a difference I guess.

For me it's nothing to do with 'snatchers' but just the everyday stuff that children do. Will they fall off the slide and break an arm, will they decide to move this chair over to the fence and climb it, will they hit the other in the face with a bat? Those sort of things.