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On Saturday, my daughter has been invited to a pool birthday party for a friend of hers. Its at the pool in the development so we will no doubt be playing outside all day.
On this kind of occasion I stay with her, while I know she is a good swimmer, I wouldn't want to leave that to chance with fewer parents then there are children.
Our kids play outside all day in the summer. They bike to their friends' houses, have all kinds of made up games they play and their favorite "night games" played outside after dark (it is some kind of hide and seek game they made up). This summer will be hard on our oldest because he won't be able to play as much. He is taking geometry over the summer because he couldn't fit it into his schedule in the fall and once that is done marching band starts.
In our old town EVERYONE was outside all summer long. If the neighborhood gang was at your house at meal time, you just fed them all. Each house had a different game that was special to that house--our house was the kickball house because we had a good yard for that.
My kids are always outside here in Texas (even in the heat and humidity). We live in a small town outside of Houston and are on a dead end street. All of the neighborhood kids (there is about 6 or 7 all together) just run amok out in front. I check on them frequently about every 1/2 hour or so but they pretty much have the run of the street. Funny thing is we rented this house so they could have a backyard to play in and they won't step foot in it. They would rather be out front with all their friends.
I remember playing outside all day long, but it wasn't because we wanted to...it was because our parents made us. My husband and I just discussed this one. We were told to go out and play and not come home until lunch in the morning, then sent back out and told not to come back until dinner. I think parents were different then they didn't want to be "bothered" with their kids. If it rained we would be sent to the bowling alley or movie theatre for the day. I'm talking at 6 years old we were dropped off at the movies or bowling alley and then left there....I would never do that...LOL My kids play outside a lot but myself or their father is there with them...because that's the way it should be.
I think that anyone who just lets their kid play outside all day is really setting themselves up for a visit from CPS. I cannot tell you how many little kids I have seen whose parents just let them roam the neighborhood and go wherever.Those parents probably needed a visit from them to shake them up a bit and realize that they needed to supervise their children.
If I saw kids happily playing outside for several hours on a nice day I would think nothing of it but too many people are quick to call in Child Protective Services and the next thing you know is you (in general you) are facing an allegation of neglectful supervision.
If you are friendly with all the families on your street then you probably have nothing to worry about. Nowadays a lot of people do not even know their neighbors. For example, I have lived on the same street for several years and I still do not know my neighbors. It is just the way this neighborhood is.
Floridamom, I believe you are right about the cps. It is a shame that parents today have to watch the kids so closely when they are outside, especially in the cities..My daughter and hubby and two small kids were so frightened for their children and the amount of child abusers in Fla. that they came back home, took BIG cuts in pay. They are so happy now..They live in a small community, small school and the children play out side all they want..They live on a tight budget, because my daughter wants to be the one to raise the kids, but have never been happier
I have a hard time with this one, if we are agreeable to sending a 5 year old to walk to school or get on the school bus by themselves then how old is old enough? My youngest children are 7 and 1/2 yrs old and their older siblings are almost 12 and almost 9 and are always with them, are they old enough? They are only allowed to play in front of our house and can go no further than 4 houses down either way on their bikes. I leave our garage open and I pop my head out every 15-20minutes to check out what they're up to. We lecture them daily that kids play with kids and kids do not even talk to adults they don't know. Am I doing enough? My nieghbor down the street leaves his 6yr little girl outside to play with my kids all day unsupervised, is he doing enough? My other neighbors whom have 5 and 7yr old girls will not let them play outside at all unless they sit out in the driveway and supervise every minute, hence the kids come out about once a week. I don't think anyone should let a child under 5 or even 6 maybe outside unsupervised, but how old is old enough?
Thanks, we are gonna move out of Florida as soon as my husband gets approved for his disability income. Not sure yet where we are gonna go but it will probably be either Oklahoma or Texas. We actually have a lot of reasons for moving.
I think it is a shame that these days most of us seem to live in neighborhoods where neighbors do not really know each other. With all the two income and single parent families out there, not to mention the increase in the number of developmental disabilities among children ( meaning that parents like me have to spend several hours a week shuttling kids to various forms of therapy).People just do not seem to have the time to get to know the other people in the neighborhood.
Noplace, I always just kinda went with the school age rule myself as far as playing outside was concerned. When my oldest was five I dared to let her out in the yard by herself. Now when she was two she would walk to her Grandmas house next door with me watching, same for the next oldest.
Now when we moved to Austin Texas for three years we lived in an apartment and believe me I missed that yard even though we loved Austin. I had to supervise quite a bit more then and I made sure that they got to school safely since we were too close for the bus to come.
If you do have any questions I would not hesitate to just call the abuse hotline and ask if there are any laws about this. That is what I did when we were in Texas and I had to shuttle four kids to three different schools. My then eleven year old sixth grader ( Just graduated high school now!)would stay home alone in the mornings and get ready in peace for school while I took the other three kids.They basically said it was okay.
If you do have any questions I would not hesitate to just call the abuse hotline and ask if there are any laws about this. That is what I did when we were in Texas and I had to shuttle four kids to three different schools. My then eleven year old sixth grader ( Just graduated high school now!)would stay home alone in the mornings and get ready in peace for school while I took the other three kids.They basically said it was okay.
Thanks for the reply, basically they already found me, thats why I asked. We just moved to TX a year ago and we homeschool, well anyways last fall I had a friend who also homeschools visiting from out of state. We let all 8 of our children outside after lunch to burn off some energy, the youngest of the group is 5 years old. Well one of my persnickity neighbors called 911 and yes the cops showed up and gave me a lecture about my kids playing outside unsupervised. He basically said there is no exact age for unsupervised playing, just that the kids should know their phone number, address, moms name, where their parents work and generally seem mature enough. He actually warned me that if he wasn't in a good mood he could remove all of the kids for neglect! So he wrote me up and now I have a referral in the CPS system. It's really frustrating, I can not keep my kids cooped up all day but since the incident I do make them stay inside until at least 3pm, just so that they do not stick out for not being in public school.
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How old is old enough to be unsupervised?
