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Just curious what other parents do. We back up to a park that is surrounded by houses on all sides. I've seen a variety of kids of all ages back there with and without parents. We do let our son (6) go out there on his own but always check on him from the porch or window from time to time.
Just curious what other parents do. We back up to a park that is surrounded by houses on all sides. I've seen a variety of kids of all ages back there with and without parents. We do let our son (6) go out there on his own but always check on him from the porch or window from time to time.
There is a park about 1/4 mile down the block from me. My daughter was 8 when we first let her go down to the park by herself. If it was further, I would probably drive them, but they can take care of themselves. My son is 2 years younger, he started joining her the next year when he was 7 and she was 9. Do whatever you feel comfortable with. Some parents feel the need to keep a close eye on their kids, and that is fine with me. I choose not to, and it should be fine with everyone.
We were allowed to bike around the neighborhood unsupervised when I was 9 and my brother was 7. There was a greenbelt path that connected all the homes in the neighborhood and went all the way to the elementary school, as well (though it was faster to cut through some culdesac).
I walked back and forth to school by myself every day.
There's a park right across the (very very quiet) road from us so my kid has been going there by herself since she was 4. Moving soon though and the nearest park will be across the main road so she won't be able to go there alone yet which is a pity.
I think it depends where you live and how far away it is. We have a park that's a good 15-20 minute walk away. My son is almost 5 and I don't imagine allowing him to walk there by himself until he is maybe 13 or so. I've seen kids there by themselves before but they looked at least 12 years old and probably lived down the block or so.
Most of our kids were simply never by themselves. When our older ones were little, there were no parks and no place interesting nearby for them to go, we lived in a subdivisionish neighborhood and the closest park was about a mile away. Anyway they were twins, so they never went anyplace alone.
The twins were 5 when we moved and there was a tiny park across the street. I do not remember whether they ever went over there alone. We were a little concerned about the neighborhood when we first moved there. There were blatant drug deals going on at the divided house across the other street and a women's half way house about three doors down. We had a small back yard that we made nice and eventually got a pool, so the kids were mostly in the back yard. They would also play with the kids next door int eh front area between the two houses, but either us or the other kid's parents were usually on a front porch of one of the two houses. I am not sure the twins ever asked to go to the park alone, so we never considered it.
By the time the next one up was 3 and able to be out anyplace, the twins were 8 and they were always present when the littlest was out. There was a small park across the street and the three of them could go over there if one of us grown ups or our neighbors were outside. However the park was not very different than our yard, so they rarely had any reason to go there.
After we moved to Michigan, our youngest was 5, and the entire Island we live on is one big park really and incredibly safe. By then the twins were 14, and the others 9,8, and 5. They tended to play/hang out together most of the time, so there was never really any "what cna you do alone" issue. They were all basically free to roam within reason. Youngest had a little electric car he liked to run around in. We still usually did not let him go off if we were not outside and in yelling distance. We lived in a rental on the main drag, so there was traffic. There was a playscape a few blocks away, but it was tucked into the woods and the bad middle school and some high school kids tended to take it over as a place to make out or smoke pot, so they did not go there very often, or at least they did not stay long if bad kids were there. They also walked down ot the Sav On for an icy whenever they wanted, but they went in a group because everyone wanted an icy.
Once we got into our home, it was a park. 2 acres plus of woods on either side of our 1 acre property and a river in the front. We really did not need any rules. Dont try to swin inthe river I guess, but we never had to tell them that.
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