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I wish my neighbor didn't allow her kids to play outside all day-but she does. The problem is they scream and I do mean SCREAM as though they are hurt all day. Makes me CrAzY!! When mine were younger and yes I did allow them to play outside,but under my watchful eye; the rule was: if you are screaming (A) it better be because someone is trying to abduct you (B) you better be bleeding/hurt.
Sorry just had to vent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dingler
When I was a kid in the 1960s, I was outside playing most of the day every day in the summer. I lived in a medium sized town in the Midwest.
I go and visit this nice relatively well off crime free town of my youth on a regular basis and have one shocking question: What happened to the kids? I do not see any kids playing outside any more in my hometown--- or here in suburban DC. According to statistics, my home town does not have anymore crime against children than it did in 1967, when I was 10 years old. But for some reason very few kids are playing outside anymore.
How about in your hometown? Do kids play outside anymore without a parent around-- or away from organized activity?
Unfortunately, it is far too hot here in the summertime for kids to play outside. It gets in the 120's throughout July and August. Here it is June 1st at noon and it is already 101 if that tells you anything . It's even too hot to go to the lake or pool all day
We're in the process of moving to Texas and hopefully then my kids will be able to play outside ALOT more . I know Texas is hot and humid, but after living here in the Arizona desert all of their lives, I think they will find Texas weather "pleasant"
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.
My kids are 12 and almost 15 and are perfectly capable of playing outside unsupervised and have been for a number of years. We live/lived in neighborhoods with tons of kids and they are ALL out all day long playing.
While my boys are outside playing, I do check on them every 20 mins or so. But I keep my ear out all the time.
They are 7 & 8. And they are only playing with eachother as they have no friends in our neighbourhood. All the other children go to public school and so they dont know them from riding the bus, also there is not many children of their ages here.
Hopefully the house next door will be bought by somebody with kids their ages.
dorothy
I wish my neighbor didn't allow her kids to play outside all day-but she does. The problem is they scream and I do mean SCREAM as though they are hurt all day. Makes me CrAzY!! When mine were younger and yes I did allow them to play outside,but under my watchful eye; the rule was: if you are screaming (A) it better be because someone is trying to abduct you (B) you better be bleeding/hurt.
Sorry just had to vent.
Amen! My parents have neighbors with kids who are home all day, and they are all yelling their heads off (outdoors, of course) all day long. On the weekends it's even worse - if you didn't know that they do it all the time, you would think that there's a hooded man in their backyard cranking the handle of "the rack" as he is slowly pulling these kids apart, Spanish Inquisition-style.
On the other side of their house, they have a pet nut who got reported to the SPCA - among the many animals they confiscated, they carted off over 30 birds and even walked a chimpanzee out the door and into their truck while their owner wept at losing "her babies".
I don't know how they can handle the noise day in day out - the area I live in, in the streets where there are a few boys 10-15 years old, they congregate outside daily to bike, skateboard, play ball, etc. but they are very repectful of the rest of the inhabitants of our neighborhood. I prefer seeing them playing in the streets than hanging out in arcades or fast food places, looking for trouble.
The screaming would make me a nervous wreck, if I can hear something threw the cinder block walls of my house, then its WAY too loud and you will find me on the front lawn to see what is going on.
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?
Well I think it depends on the neighborhood and the kids. My kids aren't allowed in the front of the house unless one of us is with them...I don't think the older one is responsible enough to watch the younger one and there are lots of cars that drive by. They are however allowed to play in the back yard if I'm downstairs, so I can see them out the window. But that's only because it's a fenced yard, oh and they have to take the dogs out with them...that way if anyone approaches the yard I know right away...LOL If you think your kids are responsible enough to watch their youngest sibling then I guess it's fine...but even if you check on them every 15-20 minutes that leaves a lot of time in between for something to happen and if it's something the older siblings either didn't see or anticipate that would leave them feeling responsible for something bad happening to their sibling...I don't know if I'd want to risk either for my kids...but I'm probably over protective.
My kids play out back everyday, unless its freezing. Even then they beg to go out and I usually let them for a few minutes. Our street is busy and they are too young to play out front by themselves. But the backyard is full of toys and digging tools. Luckily that keeps them busy. We will see what happens in a few years when they outgrow the things they are interested in now.
I hate the screaming thing too. If I have to tell my kids to keep it down too many times, they have to clean up and come inside for time outs. That kills them. Now just the threat of that keeps the noise level down, lol.
When I was growing -up, in the 70's, I'd leave the house right after breakfast and I wouldn't come home until lunch then I was gone again till dinner. I would ride my bike everywhere, visit friends, relatives, neighbors. Just having fun being a kid, I don't ever remember seeing any crime or "weirdos" or child abducters or anything we see today. My son is not allowed to play in the frontyard alone or ride his bike out of my sight. Call me paranoid but atleast I make sure he's safe.
I know what you mean. When I was growing up, we would get up, eat our cereal and go outside and stay the whole day. If we had a ball to play with we had it made. We played kickball, baseball, dodgeball, football, volleyball, whatever we could come up with. Yes I do think video games, tv and cell phones play a big part in it but things are different now too, the streets aren't a safe place to play anymore.
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. It's even too hot to go to the lake or pool all day 
. I know Texas is hot and humid, but after living here in the Arizona desert all of their lives, I think they will find Texas weather "pleasant" 
