At what are do you think it is acceptable for a child to play outside without adult supervision ?
I know it would depend alot on the individual child and i imagine the area that have to play in . I would be happier letting the girls play out the front at my mums (only small end of road and plenty of grass/Forrest ) than i would my mother in laws (busy roads everywhere) .
Our home is a mixed area , we have a small front garden and then the flat/houses car park which while busy does not have fast moving traffic . Across from the car park is a little Forrest . On the other side of the flat (i cannot see this from my home though) is a flat bit of grass good for the kids to run around on .
I worry about the car parks and the road between the Forrest's and the school , while it is normally quiet (accept for school times) i have seen cars speed up and down it . Rebecca is reasonably sensible but she is still only 5 , she knows not to go on the roads but can you really trust a 5 year old ?
We are starting small with her , she finishes school at 3 and her sister at 3.30 so we have been letting her out alone (when i say alone i actually mean with her almost 8 year old cousin) for the 20 minutes between pick up times. She is loving the freedom , she says it makes her feel "really grown up" . She is only allowed in the surrounding areas and not to go on any of the roads. When i go to get her sister she must be somewhere i can see her .
But is 5 to little for this ? Am i being a paranoid parent ?
Well, our situation is quite different. We have a huge backyard, but it is only fenced on 2 sides. We live on a dead end street, but the people who live at the end tend to drive really fast. I allow my kids in the back w/o me all the time. The rule is they aren't allowed on the either side of the house because then they are getting too close to the front yard. I just started letting Leah (3 years) out by herself... before she had to have Hannah or Elijah go with her. I do check out the window every few minutes, but that's it. I think Rebecca will be fine, it's good to give kids some freedom.
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