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Sorry it should be DO YOU LET YOUR CHILDREN WANDER AROUND?
Question for the moms and dads...do you let your 5, 6, 7, 8 year olds wander around unattended? Do you let them ride bikes without watching them? Do you feel that you do not need to supervise your kids?
I am curious because I see so many little ones in my complex roaming around, riding bikes in the parking lot (where it is very busy) or just not being watched by any adult. Granted, because I have a special ed. child, I can't and won't just let him go out alone. He's not able to make good decisions at this point. He's just turned 11 but due to his maturity, he's more like a 8 or 9 year old.
I was just wondering if maybe it's just 'us' and others are just more relaxed parents. I'd like my son to do more on his own but I am not sure he's ready. How do you tell? If you have a special ed. kid, when did you know he was ready?
Last edited by GypsySoul22; 04-13-2009 at 06:17 PM..
My son will be seven this summer and he can certainly go outside or ride up and down the street (on the sidewalk) without me right outside there with him. I am checking on him every 5-10 minutes. If he is with another friend we have allowed them to go down to the culdesac which is still visible from my front porch and about four houses down the street. He is not allowed to "wander" though and I'm not sure when exactly I will let him do that. It is a tough world, I know I was allowed to wander when i was 8, 9, 10 and I am not so convinced that it is a more dangerous place today but that we just hear about it on the news more often. I mean seriously, we hear about kidnappings all over the country when back in the 70s and 80s there were probably just as many kidnappings but we only heard about them when they were local. We still haven't had any stranger kidnappings here locally.
I never allowed my children out without supervision just too much especially in todays world where you dont know who or what is your next door neighbor . cases in florida and california have shown that lately !!! I am talking early 80's with my kids when we were just starting to learn about child abuduction and slayings . I mean you cannot even trust the sunday school teacher anymore . No thank you I think all of you with kids under 16 should be scared to death to not watch your kids constantly . I am glad my kids are not little like that anymore but I would seriously consider them going out to the movies without me !!! I dont think you can be too carefull these days .
Sorry it should be DO YOU LET YOUR CHILDREN WANDER AROUND?
Question for the moms and dads...do you let your 5, 6, 7, 8 year olds wander around unattended? Do you let them ride bikes without watching them? Do you feel that you do not need to supervise your kids?
I am curious because I see so many little ones in my complex roaming around, riding bikes in the parking lot (where it is very busy) or just not being watched by any adult. Granted, because I have a special ed. child, I can't and won't just let him go out alone. He's not able to make good decisions at this point. He's just turned 11 but due to his maturity, he's more like a 8 or 9 year old.
I was just wondering if maybe it's just 'us' and others are just more relaxed parents. I'd like my son to do more on his own but I am not sure he's ready. How do you tell? If you have a special ed. kid, when did you know he was ready?
All 4 of my kids can play in our (very wooded) backyard unattended. I let my 3 bigger kids ride bikes in our driveway without watching them either. That's about as far as I am willing to go, however.
Our mailbox is about 1/2 mile from our house and I see kids my kids' ages and younger walking around the whole neighborhood all the time. Aside from the fact that we have a registered sex offender about 6 houses from the mailboxes, I cannot even fathom allowing my kids to do this! One family in our development had 4 y/o deaf twins girls that would would roam the neighborhood unattended all the time! I can't even imagine!
My girls ages 8, 10 and 12 are not allowed to go wandering either. They can ride their bikes to a certain spot which is a few blocks down the road and back or they can walk to that spot and back, which I can easily watch them from my front door. Mind you that the furthest distance that they can go, they can only go if they are in pairs or small group. If they are going alone the distance is shortened so that I can easily hear them scream as well as see them.
As they get older the distance that they can go will get further, but I would still prefer that they at least be in pairs or groups. Once they reach driving age they of course will be able to go even further because most likely they will be wandering around in a car.
EDIT: I just wanted to add that they are never allowed to go for bike rides or walks unless a trusted adult or older teen is out in the front yard to watch. If no-one will be out in the front yard, then my kids have to stick with either 1) playing in the backyard or 2) only being able to go across the street to the church parking lot where they can be seen from inside the house or 3) riding or walking only couple houses either direction of ours on our side of the street.
I see kids left unattended in the neighborhood all the time, some as young as five years old. No way do I let my kids (8 and 6) do that!
When we're visiting my MIL, who lives in a ruralish area, the kids can ride their bikes to the end of her cul de sac, about 4 houses away, and back to the house. I sit on the front porch and let them do this, so I can't see them, but they are within earshot. In our own neighborhood, they need to stay where I can see them.
I remember when I was a 5 ( 1980 ) years old and outside playing alone. All kids where back then. You hardly heard about kidnappings or child molesters like now days. What happened. Th
We have 6 acres and my 2 kids, ages 8 and 5, are free to ride their bikes, hike and explore to their hearts' content as long as they stay on our property. They won't be allowed to cross the street or play unsupervised with neighborhood friends for quite some time.
Our 15 yr old daughter can roam around as long as she is with friends, our 10 soon to be 11 yr old son can roam the neighborhood which consists of our L shaped road and is about 3/10ths of a mile long. The 4yr and 20mo old are never outside unless DH DD or myself are out with them. I think it mostly depends on the neighborhood, whether or not you let them roam and how far. We lived downtown and we would not have let them out by themselves if we still lived there, but now we live in a township that is mostly subs and they can enjoy a little more freedom.
We also see many kids out riding their bikes along the busy roads here where the speed limit is 55 and can't believe parents would let their 8-10yr old ride there. Crazy.
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