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.
True, at 5 (maybe 4 I can't really remember) my kid goes to the neighbors without me and plays outside with them. I just recently sent his 2.5 yr old brother with him and the neighbors 3 yr old plays with them too. We leave the doors open so we can here and the kids are instructed to watch the little ones. But none 9f the kids are prone to wandering
When we moved to our house, the kids were 6 and 8, I think? They were allowed to walk to the other end of the block to play at the school playground. I can see it and hear it from out front porch and our street is safe to cross.
But I won’t pretend my heart never dropped when I checked on them and couldn’t spot them right away.
Still, that was the beginning of allowing them to walk to their friends homes in the neighborhood and to the local store. My daughter and her friend got completely lost (how? It’s basically a straight shot) going to the store once, and being able to figure it out on their own gave both girls a big confidence boost.
My kid is five and there is no reason for him to play outside of our fence. We have a full acre and a decent part is fenced in. We're rural enough that there aren't just kids running from one house to the next playing with each other until they are about ten. If he plays outside of the back fenced in area without supervision he loses the privilege to play outside alone. It would be way to easy for someone to pick him up unseen in the front yard or for him to get lost in the miles of woods across the road.
I live in a building in a city so letting them play outside alone isn't really an option. I did let them take the elevator alone to go to the lobby and greet our guests and lead them to our place yesterday and today.
If we are visiting friends or family in the burbs, they play unsupervised and have since age 3ish? No one is on a busy street and they all have kid filled neighborhoods and large yards. Or fences.
Five, and only if her friend is out. We live in a cul de sac but we don’t let her go in the street so the kids play on the sidewalk or in her friend’s yard. Mine is rock so that’s not comfortable to play on. I’ll let her sit on the front step if she really wants to be outside and wait for her friend to come out.
DD is almost 8 and we wouldn’t let her play out front without one of us out there. Our street is too busy and for reasons I feel are regional. But there are several kids (mostly girls) her age give or take 2 years and none of them do either, so it’s not just us.
Post by thatgirl2478 on Apr 8, 2018 22:21:22 GMT -5
old fenced yard? no problems leaving even my 18mo old out there with her sister (though, this did lead to an undetermined quantity of dirt being ingested, so YMMV).
new unfenced yard? 2.5 when out there with her 6 yr old sister. However, that kid is now 3.5 and I'm not sure I'd trust her outside alone (as in, without her 7 yr old sister who she follows everywhere) - she's got a wild streak.
At around 5/6 the kids were allowed to play in our yard/specific boundaries of the neighborhood. When we moved in to our new development they were 7 and 8 and were allowed to have mostly free range of our neighborhood with periodic check ins. Our neighborhood is basically a letter P, with no outlet, so there is minimal traffic, only those who live there.
Post by pinkdutchtulips on Apr 9, 2018 16:14:10 GMT -5
5-6 years old w other kids from the complex similar in age ... she knew the 2 basic rules 1- don't leave the complex and 2- if you go into a friend's apt, have their parent text me