Ask:
How old until you will let your kids play outside by themselves? My dd is 4 and 1/2 and we have a fenced in back yard and live in a very rural area and the road is about 100yds in front of the house(not at all a busy road either). I have been debating and debating about this for a while. My family thinks it would be fine, but I just don't know. If she had a older sibling w/ her I would definiatly let her but she's the oldest. So how old were your kids when you let them out by themselves? Oh yeah, we have a german shepard and chocolate lab that would always be joining her. They are very protective of her.
Answer:
I'm always debating about this myself. My DS is 3 yrs old and I started letting him play outside by himself about 4 months ago. I have rules: I must be able to see him and he must not go in the street. Since he follows the rules very well I feel that it is good for him to learn to be independent. I'm happy that he wants to play outside so I want to reinforce this.
From what you say it seems very safe around your house, maybe you should start with small periods of time (just to make you feel safe and see how it goes).
Answer:
My son is also 4 1/2 and I definately think it is too young to play outside alone! I think at about 6, when he is old enough to really understand stranger danger and etc. If I even question wether something is safe i'm going on the cautious end. They are mine to protect, and I would just die if my poor judgement cost me them.
Answer:
Ds is 5 and I will let him play alone in our backyard - where I can see him. I'm lucky because I can see the backyard from the kitchen, family room and library, then upstairs in the laundry room and I'm usually in one of those rooms.
I just started last fall allowing him to play in the backyards of other kids that butts up to our backyard. Usually they are in a group so I feel better, and I'm out there to check every so often. If he wants to go somewhere where I can't see very well, I go over with him, set my timer and when the timer goes off I haul him back. My comfort level only goes so far!
Answer:
Had to add that ds knows the rules that it's backyards only and he is to tell me what house he is going to. He knows if I check on him and if he's in the front yards or some other backyard than he originally started off being in he will be hauled in and make to stay inside for a few days.
Answer:
My back yard is completely fenced in with no outlets other than coming inside the garage and I let my boys play outside together all the time. They are four and two. I do that when I am able to hear what is going on though, not when I'm in the shower of course!!! If I have dishes to do, laundry to fold, bathrooms to clean, I send them outside!
Answer:
I haven't let the kids play outside by themselves yet. They're 4 and 2. We don't have a fenced in yard and live on a corner lot which means 2 roads to watch out for! One is kinda busy w/ a school and nursing home down the street and the drivers don't seem to heed the speed limit of 25. We are planning to fence in the yard in a couple years but I wouldn't feel comfortable if I couldn't see them even if they were fenced in. Too protective I guess but better safe than sorry. I do regret that I'm not very outdoorsy and my kids are quite the opposite and I feel guilty being inside cause I have chores and errands to run. Sorry not much help.
Answer:
We live in an extremely safe neighborhood on a cul-de-sac but our backyard is not fenced in. Riley turned three in January and while I am pretty confident she would be fine outside in the yard alone for short periods of time, there is no way I will do that until she is at least 5 or 6. I just think there is too much that could happen with me not being there. But that's just me. I worry about all kinds of stuff that probably don't need to be worried about. LOL
Answer:
My ds-6 and dd#1-5 play outside by themselves. They are out in the front playing with the neighbor kids. They ride bikes and play in the other kids' yards( we live in an apartment). I can see all of their friends yards.
Answer:
My dd is 4 and we just started letting her go outside by herself. We live about a mile back from the road and our yard is fenced in. Our gates hve the latches on them because of the dogs so she can't get them open yet.