Unsupervised play

[JulySheMustFly]

At watch age did you/ plan to let you children plan unsupervised ourside? Is the age different for the backyard, front yard, with neighborhood children?

 

[~Mrs. A2J~]

Our 4 year old daughter is allowed to play in the back yard by herself and has been allowed to since she was 3. It has a high fence and I check on her regularly. I'm not comfortable for her to play in the front yard alone as there is no fence and even though we only have the occasional vehicle go by except for the mail (we live out in the middle of nowhere off a dirt road) the odd couple of cars we do get usually drive too fast. We don't have neighborhood children so I can't really answer that but I think at 4 that is too young to be unsupervised in an uncontained area.

 

[rakkoon]

I'm very over protective with my kids. We don't live in such a good area, I wouldn't let my kids out. At my mom's house though I don't mind if my daughter (16 y/o with autism) plays in the backyard. My 19 month old son, it will be years before I will allow him out to play with out me watching him. We will be moving out of state to a rural area, I will be more at easy with them but not completely.

 

[Linnis]

My nephew cannot play outside alone, we live in an apartment complex so I can't check on him etc so I take him to the park or on walks, every day it's nice unless it's really hot, or we go for walks or ride bikes. He's 7 and while others around here let their kids off alone without adults I won't.

It would be different if we had a fenced in backyard, where I could check on him or spot him through a window.

 

[Mskedi]

I think this completely depends on the kids, the neighborhood, and your own sense of protectiveness.

I was instrumental in raising my little brother and sister (my mom was too sick at the time to take care of them), but since they weren't MY kids, I was overprotective. I was always near them at the park, I stayed in the back yard if they were there, and they had a corner-to-corner rule (they couldn't go past my line of vision) when they played in front of the house.

My parents, however, let my older brother and I play outside with no supervision at all in a bad neighborhood for hours on end when we were my little bro and sis's age.

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

We have property and our front yard is fenced in the middle of it. Add two very protective dogs and our two two year old and seven year old often play outside alone. Of course when the two year old is out there, I'm somewhere near a window and will watch quite a bit.

However, at our old house which was in a subdivision, there were cases in nearby cities of men jumping over fences and trying to carry off children so my son was always supervised outside.

 

[andiesmama]

We have a huge fenced-in backyard, so Andie (she's almost 4) is allowed to play out in back whenever she wants (of course, I keep an eye on her). She's also allowed to play in the front yard (not fenced in, but we are probably about 400 feet back from the road), she only plays in the yard & isn't allowed to go in the driveway. Like others have said, tho, it totally depends on your child and your neighborhood. The house we're in now is out in the country, not right on top of our neighbors....where we lived before we were in the city right on top of our neighbors so I'd never let her outside alone if we still lived there.

 

[CarrieAg93]

DSs are 3 and almost 6. They are allowed outside alone both front and back. I check on them a lot more is they're in the front. We live on a dead end rural road with only 6 houses and everyone knows we have young kids. Our house is set far back from the road so they're not anywhere near the cars, but everyone is really good about slowing down when they come by our house. If they are playing with the boys across the street I usually stay outside with them because then they are much closer to the road. Plus these boys are older and I don't really trust them not to talk my kids into doing something dangerous.

 

[GolfingMom]

I let my 2 and 4 year old play in the backyard (completely fenced) but I have windows along my back wall so I can see them all the time. I'm able to fix up etc. with them out there usually digging in the dirt.
I sit on my front steps and look through the mail if they play in the front...
My neighborhood has no crime so Im not worried about it HOWEVER it does depend where one lives!

 

[sunshiinedays]

This completely depends on where you live, and how responsible your children are. My kids were allowed in the backyard alone at 3 (it's fenced in). At 4 my oldest still needed to be supervised elsewhere outdoors (she's a wild one) but my youngest, now at 4, is fine playing within a block of home. But we live on a quiet dead end street, and next to a fenced in park/playground, and know all of our neighbours. They must phone home if they go inside their friends houses. While I generally feel like they are safer in numbers, I've also noticed that they get into much more trouble with their friends.

 

[Zoomer]

My children cannot play outside by themselves, they are 3 and 5. I don't know when I will let them. Our yard is not fenced in and backs to a corn field. The last thing I need is for one of my kids to get lost in it.

 

[JulySheMustFly]

Thanks for your responses everyone. They helped me put in perspective my husband's decisions about the girls plalying outside and with children in the neighborhood.

 

[jgonz]

Here in El Paso everyone has rock walls around their property~ but usually just the back yard. I will let my kids play out back with no supervision except each other younger than in the front.

Playing out front is a Whole different ball game though... We use the "buddy" system~ no one is allowed out front by themselves. 2 or more siblings or friends at all times. I just started letting my 5 yr old play out front with my 7 and 12 yr olds.