How old...

[jezebel]

Were your kids when you let them play outside (like, in the front, or nearby) by themselves?

We have a million kids on our street, so now that the weather is nicer, L wants to play outside with them all the time. Which I love, but I hate sitting outside for hours to supervise.

[notsopicky]

This year, so 6. He's about to turn 7. Usually there are older kids out there with them (we have 6-7 kids from the two houses next to us)--ages range from 5-10.

Most of the time there's a parent out there too, but not always. They know they can't go into the street (i.e. if a ball or something goes into the street, there it stays), or any further than the last house (on bikes, scooters, electric cars, etc). I go outside to check on them once in a while.

[mala]

B is 5 now, about to turn 6. As long as she's not alone, she's allowed to play outside. Usually she's playing with the neighbor kids, age 6, 9 & 9. If none of those three are with her, one of us will go outside with her. They're all only allowed in our yard or the neighbor's yard. They have some other ground rules, like no playing in the creek or riding bikes in the court without a grown up. We haven't had any issues with any of them not following the rules, and we set them with the parents next door, so we're all on the same page. Our neighbors are awesome, though, and have become good friends. I might not be as comfortable with people we don't know as well.

ETA: the actual answer to your questions is shortly after she turned 5. We started being more relaxed about her playing outside with the neighbor kids at the start of last summer, when she showed us she knew and was following the rules.

[somersault72]

6? It's been awhile (he's almost 10). We live in a subdivision and he mostly plays with the boys across the street.

[sarahbear]

Siblings. 5&7

[readyin07]

This was a hard one for me!

We moved to this neighborhood where kids play outside alone when Ds1 was almost 6 and ds2 was 3. I started letting ds1 play outside alone at 7 in first grade. Ds2 has been playing outside alone with his brother since he was 5 lol. They want to be outside all the time and I can’t be out there 4 hours a night!

[Alps79]

Maybe 5 or 6? Nearly always with other kids. My older one is very responsible and has always done a good job keeping an eye on her sister. We live on a sleepy street and there is a playground about 5 house down, exclusive to our neighborhood where they love to play.

[atarianna]

My kids are 4 and 5. They’ve been playing outside relatively unsupervised for about 6 months. I typically leave the backdoor or garage door open so I can listen for them and they have specific boundaries they cannot cross. They are allowed to play in the driveway up to a specified line and have free rein in the back yard.

I say relatively unsupervised because I usually go outside every 5 or 10 minutes and peak at them but otherwise leave them alone.

[laurack]

Our street is kinda busy and cars go too fast so I’m not sure when I’ll be ok with it. I mean they can play outside in the fenced in back yard without us but not running around in the streets or anything. There isn’t really any kind of roaming pack of kids I’ve seen that they could join so I’m not sure at what age this will become a thing.

We’ve been to block parties where they close the street to traffic and I’m fine with my older child (she’s almost 6) running off with other kids, the younger not so much but this summer when he’s four it would probably be fine

I mostly just worry about cars, people are so distracted driving now I don’t trust them. A lot of college kids around us too, driving too fast, looking at their phones. the idea of them riding bikes around without us is also terrifying but I know I’ll have to allow it at some point

[fivechickens]

If it weren’t for C’s CP I would have let them play outside without me at 5.

[bex]

I’m just letting them play out back by themselves now - they’re 3 and 5 (almost 6). We have a fence that they can’t open and our basement stairwell is gated as well.

But out front We don’t have sidewalks and while our street isn’t busy, we live at the top of a hill and cars are going fast once they pass our house, so I’m not comfortable with even just my older one out front alone, even with older kids at this point. Maybe in a year or two?

[ECB]

OUt front?  Around 5 or 6, I guess.  And that was with me checking on him a lot.  By 7, I worried a lot less.  

[demofea01]

DS is almost 4. I’ll let him play in our totally fenced in backyard that he can’t leave on his own with the sliding door open so I can hear him and he can easily come in and out.

[jenna]

Probably never. E has ASD, and is really naive. We also live on a fairly busy street in our neighborhood.

Half a block down there is a cul-de-sac that usually has a few kids playing outside. I would go with him so that I can supervise my son.

ETA: we have no fence in our backyard.

[jezebel]

L is 6 and she mostly plays with the kids right next door, one of which is older. I can see them from my bedroom window, so maybe I’ll hang out in there like a creeper. Lol

[JayhawkGirl]

6 (k) for DS on alone out on our driveway. We are at the bottom of a cul de sac. It would have been older if we lived on a through street.

7 (1st grade) I started letting him go over to the neighborhood playset with other kids. I can see it from our back deck.

[twilightmv]

DS1 is almost 6, and his brother is 4. They can play in the yard without me out there with them, as long as I can see them from the windows. We are also on a cul de sac, so it’s prettt quiet.

[circa1978]

He's 7 now and we don't. I let him in our fenced backyard. Our property backs to a creek and even though we're in super suburbia, so maybe a car down the street every 10-15 minutes, I'm nervous by nature.

He has a buddy about a five minute walk away and another that is about 10 by bike - but involves crossing a major road (ETA - "major as in two lanes but with more cars moving at 30 MPH - no stoplights)  - I feel like I might let him walk to his friend by 9 or 10 and bike to the other's when he's 11 or 12?

[circa1978]

I think I would feel differently if there were other kids in their yards. I'd probably let him play if that was the case, but I'd probably also keep a close eye on it.

[gardengal]

In our yard (quiet street, they don't leave the yard): 4

I've recently let my 7yo play sports in the street (again, quiet. Like, dead end) recently. There's a large gaggle of neighborhood kids from 2nd to 5th grade that get together

[lolalolalola]

I let my 4yo out on our block, with neighbour kids or her sibling who was 6 at that time. By 6, they definitely had full run of the neighborhood. I miss the days where they were out from morning till night. At 10&12 they now prefer to spend time indoors reading or on their devices and don’t hang out with the neighbors anymore.

[textbookcase]

6-7 or so on their own. I've let B play outside with her sisters watching since she was super young (they are 5 and 8 years older than her)

[cabbagecabbage]

At 4 I was fine with the back yard (fenced) if I was in the kitchen. Now at 5, my block has tons of little kids (3-7) and parents take turns hanging outside with them and chatting. I’m not ready to let her run off unsupervised.

[DotAndBuzz]

Siblings - ages 4 and 7. There's not much traffic on our street and they stay on the driveway or back yard.

I usually had the windows open so I could hear them. N is really protective of her sister, and they're both rule followers, so I was comfortable letting them be out there by themselves at that age.

[nicolewi]

This is a tough question to answer b/c everyone's neighborhood/yard/regional standards are so different and it's also a big kid-dependent. We have a big yard and are on a quiet street in a subdivision. My kids are really good about not leaving the yard. I let DS out alone a few times at like 4 and would watch from the window while he stayed in a specific area. He was always really good about it, and I knew he would be, or he would have quickly lost that privilege. I let my 3 year old out now with her big siblings (5, 7, and 9) and tell them to stay together, and I check on them a lot. I wouldn't let her out alone.

[fancynewbeesly]

Kindergarten. So she was 5. It was the very beginning of kindergarten. We have no fence but our house is set far back from the street.

[cleo29]

By kindergarten. I tend to sit out front if they are playing there only because we live on a busier street. In the backyard, not at all unless it is a nice day and I can sit on the screened in porch and read.

[karinothing]

2.5 back/side/front fenced yard (it is all connected) #breezy

[lolalolalola]

I think posters are responding to different questions... The age I allowed my kids to be out in my fenced yard alone was very different (and much younger) than out in front of my house, or nearby, with or without a bunch of other kids.
 

[sporklemotion]

Apr 8, 2018 14:58:39 GMT -5 karinothing said:

2.5 back/side/front fenced yard (it is all connected) #breezy

I *wish* my 2.5 would play alone— she and my 4 year old are stage 5 clingers who don’t even like it when I’m in the next room, never mind outside.