Go outside alone?

I dont yet have any children of my own, so I cant answer for my own children! I do think there are a lot of factors to consider. Do they know where they can play? Do you live on a busy road? Can you see them from inside the house? Is there going to be any other children out there? My nephew will be 4 this August. He usually plays outside with someone else. But there are times when he plays outside by himself. It is always when someone is downstairs and can see out the doors and hear him. But he knows where he is allowed to go. He also knows that if he doesnt follow the rules then he wont be able to be out there by himself anymore. So I think it is ok. There are other kids who dont listen well or dont have much space to play in. If you live in town on a busy road, letting your kids outside by themselves at the age of 5 probably isnt a good idea. I know that I played outside without adults arond before I was 5. I remember playing with the neighbors without adults before I was in kindergarten! But everyone in the neighborhood looked out for each other and there were rules we had to follow.

When my oldest was little we lived about 500 feet away from the road. I let him go outside by himself when he was about 4 1/2~ the summer just before he turned 5. His playground was right out the back off the deck. He knew that he was to not go past the trees in the back yard and not near the front of the house. When his brothers came along, he was a little older and he would be responsible for keeping an eye on them. I usually would be on the back deck watching them or in the kitchen with the window right there to see what they were doing. My daughter started going outside on her own around 5 too. We now live closer to the house, but the playyard is way in the back of the house. Living in the country makes me feel more at ease wiht my kids going out on their own.

My older son was 5 when he was allowed to play alone outside (downstairs, rather, because we stay on the 6th floor of an apartment complex). We have security guards at the main gate who would make sure the kids do not go outside the gates unaccompanied. I had also instructed my son to play on the side of the building where the pool is so that I could keep an eye on him from our balcony. He was a responsible child and I never worried about him. my younger son is 3 and can't go down to play unaccompanied. Very rarely, I let him go downstairs with his older brother (who is now 9) but this little one is a headstrong fellow and sometimes, it's hard for his brother to manage him. So, he's usually accompanied by me. I think 5 is a good age to send the kids to play out alone...but thaat again depends on the maturity level of the child and how responsible they are in following instructions.

I'm not sure there is a particular age. I think alot of it depends on the child. My son is a very responsible boy and I don't worry so much about him when he's out of the house. In the past 6 months or so, I'm let him wander farther and farther by himself. But my daughter is the opposite, she can be quite flighty and do things at the drop of a hat. So she's a bit limited until she finds out how it works. I'm not sure if that's worded right but let me try with an example. My son will tell me that he's going to so and so's house. So he goes and they aren't home. He'll come home and let me know and tell me where he's going to go to next where as my daughter would get there, find them not home and just decide to go to someone else's house without the stop at home first. There's been a few times where at 8pm, I'm going door to door with all her friends to try to find out where she ended up at. So like I started out saying... I think it all depends on the child.

Its really hard this one, my eldest is 17 now and I would let him go out to play out of the garden and over the back of where we lived with his friends and then he was allowed further afield from the age of about 8. He never really bothered with going out though, in fact up until joining the RAF he never really bothered with going out! My next son is 8 now, today he asked if he could go to the shop on his own, my heart was in my mouth because I feel he is too young to go out alone. Mad or what? But both he and his brother who is 7 are allowed to play in the garden on their own, but like their older brother they dont want too!! It takes me a lot to get them outside I can tell you, and in winter they just hibernate!!!

I think it all really depends on where you live, the traffic, the crime rate, the closeness of the road. I let my kids play in the backyard when they were quite small, mainly because we had a wooden fence around it. They were contained and no one passing by could see them. But I always kept a close eye on them anyway.

We don't let our kids outside alone. My oldest is turning 7 & she is only able to play outside if we are outside with her. I wont take no chances & besides there is an age limit where we live. Certain age groups can't be outside without an adult present. I believe the age to play outside alone is 10 (not 100% sure). I think younger kids, certain age groups, should be watched without any distractions so the parent can be focused more. Sometimes being able to just hear isn't good enough.

I'm too scared to let my kids go outside and play by themselves. I always tell my daughter she has to be 5 to do certain things but I think I may wait longer then that. Our backyard can't be seen unless you go and climb onto my bed and then I would have to run through the house to get to the backyard. I don't like how my house is set up and not sure what the guy was thinking when he built it. I like for my kids to be within my eye sight at all times if not I or they have to have a hand on me. There are too many crazy people out there.

My kids are all around the age of 10 and 11...I will only let them play in the backyard not the front. I can see them from half the rooms in my house if they are in the backyard but not at all if they are in the front. They have asked me to be able to go in the front and I hate to tell them no all the time but I think it is too dangerous because they are still little. Too many things happen to children all the time and usually they are outside playing in the yard. I think it is a shame! I remember when I was younger playing in the middle of the street with all the other neighborhood kids when I was like 7 or 8. I would never let my kids do that now unless I was out there and then they would have to be in the yard or driveway.

When I was young we didn't have the internet, video games, vcr/dvd, m pods,etc., but; we also didn't have 50 child molesters in a 10 block radius. When my daughters were youg we were a cicle of navy wives that took all the kids outside and would sit and gossip, share recipies, and plan our next get together. Later the things I had to worry about was what they were up to . ha ha As sad as I think it is, I don't think children should go out alon unless your on a farm of have a neighborhood agreement to watch each others children. It makes it hard for the children to develope their independence in the same way we did, then when the constent supervision gets to be too much the children revolt in one way of another. It's a fine line to walk and I am glad I don't have to make those decisions in today's world.

when i had my daughter the place where we live was quite ok, byt the time she was almost 3, i let her play outside... no cars to think of because where we live it was like a compound, lots of houses, side by side... and we have a dog, and that dog would always stay beside her, so eventhough there are many kids in that place too nobody messes around with my daughter... when we moved to another place, i did not let my daughter play outside anymore because our house is near the road where lots of cars are passing, even with our dog always beside here, i dont let them go out... but here in our new house, its a small subdivision, houses here are divided by wall only, i let my 2 year old son play outside for 20-30 minutes, i can see him at the window, and our door is always open. lots of kids playing there outside too, others are his age, but they are not the kind that would fight with each other... we have a good community here, i think the age on letting the child play outdoors unattended depends on the place where you are living.

Hello, To be honest with you, I did not let my son, go outside by his self until be turned nine years old, and that was not a far distance at all maybe to the corner of our street and on the front steps, there are so many strange and evil people out there, and they seem to like to harm children, so there for I'm very over protective of my children. Please don't get me wrong in your back yard where, you can still keep a eye on your child is fine, because that is like being in the home, because the backyard is usally attached to the home in some way. I really encourage all parents to be very carefull with their children, and try to protect them from harm. Happy My Lotting!

It actually depends upon where you stay. If you live in ground floor, in a house that has no staircase then you can leave your child outside before he, or she, is even 5 years of age. But if you stay in flats, then you need to be very careful because your child can stumble down the stairs even at 8 years of age. Normally, 5 years is a good age to leave your child in the open.

It's very difficult today to let your child go out alone , unless you have your own home separate from everyone else. In the condos that they build today, there is no play area for the kids...and those condo complexes that they build, usually have the playground, far from your own place....How stupid! Condo living is not for families. So, the only time your child can go outside is when you have time to take him out. That's when the child grows up watching TV, and playing computer games...because he never experienced the outside as a child. I blame the building contractors for the state of our children today.

I think part of that depends on the area you live in. when my daughter was around 3 she was able to go out on our porch. we had it closed in by a gate so she could only play on the porch. she was very smart and mature for 3 though so i don't know that i would do that with just any kid lol. then she was probably about 4 or 5 when i started letting her play outside here. I only did it when i could be close by to hear her and check on her often. I repeatedly talked to her about what to do if a stranger talked to her. she was in our back yard and it was pretty unlikely but i wanted to make sure she knew. now she is almost 7 and her sister is 4. i let the two of them go out together. my elderly neighbors are usually out when it is nice too so they aren't exactly alone because my neighbors watch them play. our town is pretty safe though so i don't know if i would be as trusting if we lived somewhere else.

My children are five years old and I just let them start to play in the fenced in back yard alone. I do not let them play in the front yard alone. We live in a great family oriented neighborhood, I have neighbors that let their 3 and 4 year olds go anywhere they want, to neighbors houses etc alone. I do not, and when one of these wonderful children come to my house I call their parents to make sure they know they are at my house. I am a safety freak..

Yes. My kids get to go outside at an early age. I think my oldest was 2. BEFORE Everyone gasps... We have a lot of land and windows all the way around the house, plus quick access to any point the Child could go. Being the oldest, he was very good about staying in the boundaries. Now all four go out alone and play, including the newest 2 year old. I think it's different for people that live in a big city or neighborhood than where we are on a spread of land and where we can hear cars coming a mile away! However, no matter where you live, teaching your Child their boundaries is the healthiest thing you can do. Then launching them to test those boundaries helps them learn to trust you and you to trust them. As they grow, the boundaries grow! Great Discussion! BearbALlew

We are in the country and when my youngest son that is almost 5 goes by himself some for to fetch the eggs in the hen house and I can guess if he is taking longer than he should so I call him,and let him know that he should be done out there. Oh! for sure other time he tells me I'm going on the swing sets mom. And turns out that he went back in the chicken house,so I have to have some help from my older kids to either go help him out or get him out of there.