Do you let your children play outside unsupervised?

Question

I am still afraid to let my kids play in the yard without watching over them. Maybe I'm an overprotective parent, but with all that has transpired lately in the news, I can't help but worry about them even though they are old enough to play on their own. Any thoughts?

They are three and six years old.

Answer 1

You are right to feel that way. My son is 6, and I rarely let him play outside unsupervised. I was molested as a child, by several neighborhood men, and so I don't feel safe having my son out ther by himself. It's better to be safe then sorry. If I do let him outside, I make sure he has his walkie talkie on him so I can communicate with him every 10 minutes. That way I can breathe knowing I can contact him when he's skateboarding or playing with friends on the street. It helps me feel safe knowing he can get a hold of me if something happens, or even just if he gets hurt. Hope this helps, but keep up the good parenting. Too many people are at home blaming themselves for the dissappearence of their child because they weren't watching them. I will not be one of them, and it sounds like you won't either. Good luck!

Answer 2

My eleven year old has a cell phone so even though he is outside or at a friends house "unsupervised" my husband and I always know where he is. My younger sons don't go outside unsupervised even though we live in a safe suburban neighborhood things are different these days from when we were kids! It doesn't matter how safe you may think your neighborhood is you never know if you live down the street from a child molester. Don't worry about what your neighbors or doing, you are doing the right thing. The sad thing is I have some neighbors who continue to let their child play outside unsupervised even though an eight year old (my sons friend and classmate) got hit by a van and died last June when he darted into the street on a scooter.

Answer 3

Around here lately, a three year old and a six year old was playing outside. The six year old was suppose to watch the three year. The three year old crawl under a car. The driver came out and drove off in the car. The six year old did not see the consequence of crawling under the car.

Many things are dangerous in life.

Even when a kid hits sixteen years of age... Stuff happens... like driving up in the middle of a gravel road.... the consequence of meeting someone else coming up over the hill.

How far do you watch kids... for the rest of your life.

When was the last time your Mom checked up on you? You are just in a bigger yard, but not that far away that Mom doesn't check up on you.

Each kid is unique, so what goes for one... doesn't mean for the other. A fenced in yard is good. But I'd still be keeping an eye out. Better if a dog was in the yard. People snatch kids, even in a fenced in yard. Dogs make noises. Do you have elderly neighbors? They watch everything, all the time. You will find them outside watching your kids with a cup of tea...

As a kid I was free to roam the neighborhood at five. Well that is what I thought...The yard was my neighborhood... then the block...My box kept getting bigger and I thought it was the world. I had many elderly neighbors.

Answer 4

No. Never have--and since i've had children, i've lived in a small safe town, a place with alert homeowners, low crime rates and educated citizens.

No. My children have never played outside unsupervised. My daughter, now 18 and in college, got to ride her bike around the block (with me outside watching for her) by herself when she was 8 or 9. Our "block" was a huge dead-end, only one way in or out and it went right past my house.

My 10 year old son doesn't even ask. He plays in the back yard or with a friend in the front yard. I let him and a friend walk to the store two blocks away but that's just been recently--and they HAVE TO stay together.

I live in the part of Northern California that has played host to a number of child killers and molesters. A few years ago, Polly Klass was kidnapped from her bedroom and killed by Richard Allen Davis. Most recently, we've had the media circus debacle of John Mark Karr and his kiddie porn in this area. Both of those things happened less than a half hour from where i have raised my children.

No! You don't take chances with your kids! Or, i don't anyway. If the very worst happened to your child(ren) while you were inside eating a sandwich and reading the latest People Magazine, how could you keep breathing? What would you say to their other parent, to their grandparents, to the media people who would ask, "Where were you?"

No.
Children are too precious to leave them unprotected.
That is, after all, your job.
Right?

Answer 5

We live in strange times where we would rather give the streets over to a small percentage of pedophiles rather than allow our children the same freedoms we had when we were kids. If we all let our children out to play in the parks and streets there would be safety in numbers.
Personally I wouldn't let my 5 and 6yr olds go to the park alone and I don't allow them to play unsupervised in the front yard near the street, but I do allow them to play relatively unsupervised in the back yard as our house is gated at the sides. Of course I pop my head out every now and again to make sure they are playing safely, but otherwise I feel ok to let them play on their own.
I wish I could give them more freedom, but the media have everyone running scared and make the problems sound bigger than they really are.
Sad times we live in.

Answer 6

That depends on many factors. Where do you live? Near a busy street? Are your kids generally good listeners? How do they play when you are watching them?

I let my 5 and 2-1/2 play in the fenced backyard with me inside, but I'd never leave them in the front yard - not even for a minute - for fear they could get hit by a car or hurt in some other way.

Answer 7

I agree with you! A three year old is not wise enough to be on their own outside and out of sight of the parents and a six year old is most certainly not responsible enough to watch over a three year old.
I see this everyday ,children unsupervised by parents and its just not even a good thing in todays world
Mother of three and grandmother of four.

Answer 8

I do now that my step kids are older. Even so, I only let them play in the back yard which is fenced in for short periods of time by themselves. I never would have let them play outside by themselves when they were that young. You're right to worry. Even if you live in a relatively safe area, there's always a chance they can get into something in the yard and hurt themselves.

Answer 9

i think 3 and 6 are a little too young. It also depends on where you live. We live in a cul-de-sac with bushland opposite. I let my 8 and nearly 7 year olds ride their bikes out the front but i'm always hearing out for their voices and check on them regularily. You can never be too protective. Not sure where you live but a few weeks ago in a Sydney suburb park, a man lured two 8 year old girls into the bushes and assulted one of them. He had been hanging around the park for about an hour and the childrens parents were at the park too! It's very sad.

Answer 10

Hi there!
I wouldn't call yourself overprotective. I have a 9 year old and let me tell you...I always know where she is at. I have seen way to many scarey stories to not know where she is at. That doesn't mean that I hover over her either though. If she is at the park I know that she is at the park. I don't let her go by herself she is only allowed to go when she is with a group of friends. A lot of it has to do with the age of the chold though. 3 and 6 is still quite young and they are still learning the ins and outs of whats good and bad. A three year old is not going to know NOT to go up to a man who wants to show him a puppy in his car. And at the age of six they can be easily decieved on helping a adult figure into finding their "lost child". It depends on when YOU feel secure in knowing that your children understand right from wrong and how to handle an adult asking for their help. Good luck!