Parent told "Just don't let your kids play outside"

[DarcyLongfellow]

I hate, hate, HATE that shit like this happens. WTF is wrong with people?

I let my 5 year old play outside by herself all the time. She doesn't leave our yard, but I definitely don't watch her the whole time.

The article writer's son was 6. At 6, I walked by myself to school every day.

[curbsideprophet]

Sept 16, 2014 13:30:10 GMT -5 gravytrain225 said:

I wonder how this correlates with childhood obesity.

I was wondering the impacts on ADD/ADHD.

[Odonata]

I had shared this on FB and now I'm running back here to where it is sane.

I got mommy shamed already - and I'm still a month out from being a mom!

After a bunch of mom friends came on to tell me how there is no way their kid will EVER be outside w/o them and that the mom in the article was irresponsible, and I countered with my opinion, I got this as the final word:

"okay....at your own risk"

Now I'm raging and I don't even have my kid here yet. What a crazy, crazy world.

[pugz]

Sept 16, 2014 17:42:26 GMT -5 Odonata said:

I had shared this on FB and now I'm running back here to where it is sane.

I got mommy shamed already - and I'm still a month out from being a mom!

After a bunch of mom friends came on to tell me how there is no way their kid will EVER be outside w/o them and that the mom in the article was irresponsible, and I countered with my opinion, I got this as the final word:

"okay....at your own risk"

Now I'm raging and I don't even have my kid here yet. What a crazy, crazy world.

Uggh fucking crazy moms

[SJ]

Will anyone here fess up to seeing the other side of this?

I just don't and would love to hear a defense.

[thatgirl2478]

My 3.5 yr old LOVES to go play outside in the back yard by herself. She has a sand & water table plus like 4 balls to kick around and 'stuff' to explore (though, it's just stuff like bugs and mushrooms and weedy flowers). I usually leave the back door open or a window open so I can hear her playing, but I rarely worry that she's doing anything stupid and she's only in my actual line of sight 30% of the time I'd estimate. If it gets too quiet, I go check on her. Same way it works inside...

[thatgirl2478]

Sept 16, 2014 19:24:04 GMT -5 SJ said:

Will anyone here fess up to seeing the other side of this?

I just don't and would love to hear a defense.

I think you'd need to post this on another board to get a defense... the MMM's seem to be a pretty 'free range'/common sense parenting group of ladies.

[aspentosh]

Sept 16, 2014 19:24:04 GMT -5 SJ said:

Will anyone here fess up to seeing the other side of this?

I just don't and would love to hear a defense.

The only thing I can think of is the lady was worried about an abduction or something happening to the boy. Which, I get... but at 6yo, the boy should know what to do. And it's not like he was two miles from home. 

I talked to my mom about this today at dinner. She confirmed there were hours where she had no idea where I was. As she put it, all four of us kids "rearranged the woods" every day. So I could be way off base

[mmmomof2]

We live around the corner from a park and pool. 5yo DD rides her bike and I either push my 2 yo in a stroller or on her push trike. One direction has a downhill slope and DD gets pretty far ahead. More than once people have slowed down and pulled over to ask her if she's OK not realizing I'm some paces behind. These are suburban neighborhood streets. We never cross a major intersection (or even a minor intersection) - it's literally around the corner. I really don't think it's dangerous, but I'm sure some people do.  

At 5 I wouldn't send her to the park by herself, but I can totally see it at 7 or 8.

[sillygoosegirl]

Sept 16, 2014 13:30:10 GMT -5 gravytrain225 said:

I wonder how this correlates with childhood obesity.

Seriously. It sounds to me like CPS apparently needs to be educated on the dangers of childhood obesity.

[oswin]

Sept 16, 2014 19:24:04 GMT -5 SJ said:

Will anyone here fess up to seeing the other side of this?

I just don't and would love to hear a defense.

This is pure speculation, but I wonder if people on the other side of this really have no idea that 6 year olds are even capable of handling themselves alone outside with strangers. If their kids have been helicoptered over and therefore have no experience being independent, those parents might not realize not all kids are like that. See, I have basically no experience with elementary school aged kids (since I was one, and my own memories blur together) so I have almost no idea of what they're capable of. So I'm guessing that some parents are just clueless and overprotective?

[Odonata]

Sept 16, 2014 19:44:20 GMT -5 oswin said:

Sept 16, 2014 19:24:04 GMT -5 SJ said:

Will anyone here fess up to seeing the other side of this?

I just don't and would love to hear a defense.

This is pure speculation, but I wonder if people on the other side of this really have no idea that 6 year olds are even capable of handling themselves alone outside with strangers. If their kids have been helicoptered over and therefore have no experience being independent, those parents might not realize not all kids are like that. See, I have basically no experience with elementary school aged kids (since I was one, and my own memories blur together) so I have almost no idea of what they're capable of. So I'm guessing that some parents are just clueless and overprotective?

That was the argument one of my friends gave:

"a six year old could not.make adult decisions.."

So I'm like "what, you're going to hang around outside with them until they are an adult?  and how will they ever learn to make adult decisions with you always doing it for them? "

[Odonata]

And I don't think the argument here is whether or not a person thinks a 6 yr old can handle themselves outside w/o a parent, but more of is it the right move to call CPS if you disagree.

Ug, my FB feed is maddening and I'm so close to just calling all my friends crazy helicopter parents! Am I the only one out of my circle of friends who feels this way? And I"m assuming they are all rolling their eyes at me b/c I'm a FTM, too.

Me: But still, it's not your call to contact CPS on the mom. If that's your preference to stay with your kids 100% of the time that's fine. But you don't call the cops on another mom who decides her son is OK with being outside alone.
12 mins · Like

Crazy Friend: Bottom line is what she is doing is a risk to her kid and not right. Other parents recognized that and pointed it out. You can't protect your kids from everything, I get that, but why take the risk? Some parents think leaving their kids in the hot car for 10 minutes while running to shop rite is ok, other parents recognize that it is not and point it out. I am sure there are policies in your school to make sure high schoolers are not left alone unsupervised…and they are teenagers in a secure school...

OH!  I guessed right!  This just in:

"Crazy Friend 2:  I'm totally with <crazy friend> on this one. guess we'll see how it goes when your daughter is born"

[glitzy07]

This is insanity.

We let SS play on our block by himself all the time (cul-de-sac) while we're in the house.

When I was a kid we would go on miles long bike rides without parents. I do remember that my neighbor's dad once gave us two hammers to put in the basket of her bike and told us that if anybody tried to hurt us that we should hammer them in the balls. Legit. Lmao.

[hymen]

Sept 16, 2014 14:37:57 GMT -5 pinkpinot said:

Sept 16, 2014 14:35:32 GMT -5 pugz said:

you need to worry about bears, not nosy neighbors, lol.  

An old lady told me I needed to hold his hand! I was all, umm no. He's fine.

My BIL got all pissy at my MIL because she didn't hold my 2 year-old nephew's hand when he went down a four-foot slide. He also wanted to essentially barricade nephew into the pavilion where we were having a picnic so he couldn't "escape" and yelled at my SIL when nephew walked past her. Forget the fact that there were 6 other adults from our family all within a few feet of him.

Meanwhile, my 3 year-old was off playing . . . well, somewhere in that general area. H and I probably gave BIL a heart attack seeing as we weren't within 2 feet of our son at all times.

[polarbearfans]

The kids in my neighborhood seem to run wild. Even the little one too young for school is outside playing and will walk up and down the street on the sidewalk.

[pugz]

Sept 16, 2014 20:53:46 GMT -5 Odonata said:

And I don't think the argument here is whether or not a person thinks a 6 yr old can handle themselves outside w/o a parent, but more of is it the right move to call CPS if you disagree.

Ug, my FB feed is maddening and I'm so close to just calling all my friends crazy helicopter parents! Am I the only one out of my circle of friends who feels this way? And I"m assuming they are all rolling their eyes at me b/c I'm a FTM, too.

Me: But still, it's not your call to contact CPS on the mom. If that's your preference to stay with your kids 100% of the time that's fine. But you don't call the cops on another mom who decides her son is OK with being outside alone.
12 mins · Like

Crazy Friend: Bottom line is what she is doing is a risk to her kid and not right. Other parents recognized that and pointed it out. You can't protect your kids from everything, I get that, but why take the risk? Some parents think leaving their kids in the hot car for 10 minutes while running to shop rite is ok, other parents recognize that it is not and point it out. I am sure there are policies in your school to make sure high schoolers are not left alone unsupervised…and they are teenagers in a secure school...

OH!  I guessed right!  This just in:

"Crazy Friend 2:  I'm totally with <crazy friend> on this one. guess we'll see how it goes when your daughter is born"

dude they are crazy bitches, unfriend, seriously

[Odonata]

Sept 16, 2014 21:19:54 GMT -5 pugz said:

Sept 16, 2014 20:53:46 GMT -5 Odonata said:

And I don't think the argument here is whether or not a person thinks a 6 yr old can handle themselves outside w/o a parent, but more of is it the right move to call CPS if you disagree.

Ug, my FB feed is maddening and I'm so close to just calling all my friends crazy helicopter parents! Am I the only one out of my circle of friends who feels this way? And I"m assuming they are all rolling their eyes at me b/c I'm a FTM, too.

Me: But still, it's not your call to contact CPS on the mom. If that's your preference to stay with your kids 100% of the time that's fine. But you don't call the cops on another mom who decides her son is OK with being outside alone.
12 mins · Like

Crazy Friend: Bottom line is what she is doing is a risk to her kid and not right. Other parents recognized that and pointed it out. You can't protect your kids from everything, I get that, but why take the risk? Some parents think leaving their kids in the hot car for 10 minutes while running to shop rite is ok, other parents recognize that it is not and point it out. I am sure there are policies in your school to make sure high schoolers are not left alone unsupervised…and they are teenagers in a secure school...

OH!  I guessed right!  This just in:

"Crazy Friend 2:  I'm totally with <crazy friend> on this one. guess we'll see how it goes when your daughter is born"

dude they are crazy bitches, unfriend, seriously

I'm going out of my mind!  These are close friends from college and I'm like "WHAT?  WHY ARE YOU SO CRAZY?"  I don't know, can I blame it on the times?  They just don't know any better?

Oh, and crazy friend #1 is a guy!  

[lolo]

Sept 16, 2014 21:37:05 GMT -5 Odonata said:

Sept 16, 2014 21:19:54 GMT -5 pugz said:

dude they are crazy bitches, unfriend, seriously

I'm going out of my mind!  These are close friends from college and I'm like "WHAT?  WHY ARE YOU SO CRAZY?"  I don't know, can I blame it on the times?  They just don't know any better?

Oh, and crazy friend #1 is a guy!  

Sounds like you need some mmm friends to balance out the crazy. ;D