Kids going to the park alone

[waverly]

I was off Monday, so I let the kids ride the bus home.  When they came in they started immediately complaining about their school issued Chromebook and other stuff, so I sent them to the park alone. Kids are 9 and 7, and were there about 3 minutes before I came down to the park.  I just rotated the laundry basically and then decided to check on them.

The park is across the street and 2 houses down, and I can see it from my house.  I felt that they ran back and forth to the house too much for my comfort zone crossing the street.  Then they got a ball in a tree that was surrounded by mud, so I didn't see them really being ready to be alone yet.  Although they were safe, just muddy shoes.

What is your age for sending kids together as a pair to the park (no adult) if you can see the park from your house?  We are experimenting with this in short periods of time, and I decided they weren't ready for longer periods of time yet. But it is something that we can work on over the summer on my expectations.  My expectation was they would stay at the park, but realized I didn't explicitly tell them that when they started running home for various toys. They are both good at crossing the street, and it is not a busy street.

Just sort of an academic question at this point what others think age wise on this.  We will continue to work on expectations to get toys before going to the park and not run back and forth. Also, I wonder what people think there was another mom there.  But usually when I see younger kids I ask them where their parents are, and they say over there, and that is fine with me.  DS is tall and looks older maybe. 

[librarychica]

You have to walk across a highway to get to a park from us so we drive and they could not go alone . But I let my 8 year old basically have free run of our small neighborhood as long as she checks in every lap (she scooters or walks the dog) and she can take her sister (5) with her. At 9 I had much more freedom than that and she doesn’t break any rules (do not go in anyone’s house, do not go to the front of the neighborhood where people sometimes whip in too fast). I would let them go to the park in your situation.

[waverly]

I'm always trying to walk the line between my helicopter tendencies as well as accept they are older, and I'm not dealing with toddlers requiring hypervigilance.

[mommyatty]

It’s a safe neighborhood, I assume? I would let them go now if they get along well, especially if you can look out the window and see them. For reference, I went down the street about a block and a half in a total ghetto in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and would play on the playground alone, all before I started kindergarten. That was crazy and I wouldn’t go that far, but I’m more on the free range end of the spectrum than most.

[k3am]

DD is almost 7. I am okay with her going to the park alone with a friend, but not her brother (3.5). Two of the kids on our street (older than her) are not allowed to go to alone, so she can't go with them, but just about anyone else, we're okay with it.

For reference, the park is 0.3 miles from our house, requires 3 corners to be turned, and 2 streets to be crossed. We obviously can't see it.

My mom was in the same school as mommyatty's. In kinder I was walking to/from school by myself (including a major street), and by first I was all over town on my bike. Way more than I'd let DD do.

[sdlaura]

I would let my kids at that age and if I could see the park. But I’m with you that I’ve realized I have to give my kids really specific instructions for things. Like whenever we’re going to be in a city I’ve realized I need to impress on them that we’re not in our neighborhood - that cars go faster and there are more people, and they need to be more careful than normal. They can’t just take themselves to the bathroom without an adult like they can at our neighborhood park. They don’t just understand that intuitively.

My older kids are 6 and 7 and we live 12 houses from the elementary school where we go play. It’s up a hill and around a corner so I can’t see it. There’s only one street to cross and there’s a crosswalk, plus stop signs on both sides. At this point I let them go ahead of me and cross the street and start playing, but I always follow them within like 5 minutes with the slower-moving toddler and dog.

[186momx]

No for DD at 8.5 for a couple reason. The closest park is the school playground which there are times I'm not comfortable being there supervising DD due to questionable characters. The other park is even farther away and connected to a dog park where multiple dogs have been attacked by other dogs.

She does jog around the block on her own and walks to the mail box a block away by herself. Technically our state says they can't be left alone until age 10 so I've used that age for walking to places by herself too.

She does get free range when at the park. I park it on a bench or walk the dog around the path and let her play so I don't helicopter when at the park.

[sandandsea]

The park seems a similar distance for us as it is To the OP. Across the street down a few houses, partially visible from our house. I don’t let the boys go alone (8&3). It’s not exactly visible and has bushes that block some view. Also there is wildlife that could be dangerous for the 3 year old (coyotes/bobcats) and recent reports of a mountain lion. It’s close to a popular trail and in a great safe neighborhood but also metro enough that I know there are not safe people with easy access too.

[mrsGreeko]

We started letting the kids walk to meet friends and go to the park or bike path alone (with other kids of the same age, not totally alone, just no adult) starting around 8. But they sometimes went younger than that with an older sibling. I’d have no problem letting a 7 year old and 9 year old go to the park together for an hour.

ETA: if I could see the park I’d probably let them do it even younger.

[waverly]

Yes it is a relatively safe neighborhood (everything is relative). No trail nearby. If people come from farther away then they have to drive and park on the street to access the park. No bobcats here, but there are coyotes rarely spotted farther out, but a 7 year old would be too big for them.

We might just do a system where they add on minutes without me on every trip and keep re-evaluating. That is how we did it with DS staying home by himself and learning phone skills with our landline.

[madringal]

Our park is 6 houses down, around the corner, and right across the street. If I was 2 houses north I could see it from my house. My oldest girls will be 12 and 8 this summer and I haven’t let them go to the park alone. We have a super safe neighborhood and we know lots of people in here, but I am just not comfortable with it yet.