At what age did you allow??

[Linnis]

Wait - how is the man with the puppy going to get into a fenced in yard?

 

[TexasSky]

I always had high fences and great windows so it wasn't really an issue with me. She thought she was alone, but she wasn't really.

She was around 3 I guess, and her brother kind of had her around, so I don't know if the poor guy really got "alone time."

I think when I really stopped watching them like a hawk they were about 4 or 5.

My concern was less about kidnapping, and more about, "trying to climb a tree and falling."

 

[TexasSky]

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.

I live in a neighborhood where we are like one huge extended family, and if a stranger even talked to someone's child a neighbor was there in a heart beat, so the latch-key kids were always at someone's house after school. When a parent came home, the minute they pulled into a driveway, everyone on the block was going, "Your kid is over with Garnet!" (One of the stay at home moms.)

 

[TexasSky]

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.

You know, I was always more worried about someone hurting my son than I was about someone hurting my daughter. It seemed every news story when my children were young were about male-chlid-abuductions, and insane-homosexual-males killing boys. (The Adam Walsh case, John Wayne Gacey (sp?), Jeffrey Dohmar (sp?). )) It was so hard not to be "over protective."

When my daughter was about 10 they started talking about the little girl cases like the Ramsey case, or the little girl kidnapped at her slumber party. Then I didn't sleep at nights ever.

 

[tred]

We live on 50 acres and we don't have a fenced backyard per se...we spend a lot of time out of doors so my children were always outside with us. I put the first time was probably 5 but it was just because circumstances were different.

 

[beccasmommy]

my dd was allowed outside alone in our yard at about age 3 we had a tiny yard that had a 6 foot fence with nowhere to go but inside our own house lol.

 

[Neenie1]

My dd is 2 1/2. She is allowed outside on her own, but doesn't enjoy being out there by herself.

We have a small backyard, there isn't very much she can hurt herself with out there, I can see her from the kitchen window. so she can go out there by herself. However she is not allowed on the trampoline by herself at al. I think she gets lonely by herself out there, and will come back in for company.

 

[Birbitt]

my boys are 4 and 3 and when we go to our friends house to play they are allowed in the back yard which has a block wall all the way around with no gate...so they are safe...and we can see them through the sliding door and the windows on the back of the house.

 

[b.a.t]

My daughter was 5 when I let het alone in our back garden that was because we had a pond and I was fearfull of something happening

 

[Pinki]

We have a small house, so when I am in our living room, I can hear everything going on in the backyard. My son is almost 3 and he is allowed outside alone (with regular checks). Our yard is very secure though!