I let my 5 year old do this. Our neighbors have a few kids. We are not close with the parents but we have had a few conversations. I sit out front and read my Kindle while she is playing. Sometimes she is out of eyesight because big cars block the way. Yesterday I went in the house for something but when I came out she went in the road to play football with a new kid who just arrived. She took one look at me and ran back to the side. Then she got time-out later. I'm going to give her another chance. But just wondering if people are more lenient or more supervision in this situation.
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I don't think I quite get what happened. My kids play with the next door neighbor kids a lot and they'll run through our yards. The kids across the street though they absolutely aren't allowed to cross the road without a parent. The speed limit is 25 but there's cars parked all along the side making it hard to see when cars are coming and there's always some speeders.
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I have an almost 3 year old and live in the city, so no way. I really don't know how I would feel with a five yo on a quiet street. That seems really young to have her out of my sight but I'm just not there yet so don't know. I could see her being in the other yard while I'm watching, but I wouldn't go into the house without alerting another parent and asking them to watch her for a minute.
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I'm not quite sure what your question is. Are you asking about playing in the front yard unsupervised or playing the the neighbor's yard while you're there?
My son is 4 and is only allowed to play in front with either myself or my husband outside with him. Our neighbors have kids, but if they're not outside, then he doesn't play in their yard. I will allow my son to play in our fenced backyard by himself, but I am inside and can always hear/see him.
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@ustechie: My question is would you let your kid play in the neighbor's yard, supervised or unsupervised or go in the house quickly? Basically, what are your neighbor playing rules? I'm not looking for guidance, warnings or support, just wondering what the norm is.
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@808love: If he's in front, he is supervised, and in our yard. If the neighbors are outside, he can play with them in either yard (they usually run back and forth between properties) and I will always supervise. I think it would be disrespectful to allow him to play in my neighbor's yard if their kiddos aren't outside as well.
ETA- I would run inside, but only if there were other people outside, too. If not, I make him stay in the garage, and I only run in for something quick...less than a minute in and out.
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I won't let my kid out of direct supervision (by myself, her dad/grandparents, or the parent/guardian of a child she is playing with) for a VERY long time. Like possibly 10. We live on a road where cars drive pretty fast, plus we have a registered sex offender like 10 doors up (plus you don't know what kind of weirdos are near and not registered). So just nope nope nope.
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LO is 3 and last night the neighbor kids came over during dinner and asked her to play squirt guns. We finished dinner and I looked out the window to see that my next door neighbor was still outside (we're friendly but this hasn't been routine). I sent LO outside and put the baby to bed. DH did dishes and half watched (but mainly listened) out the window. I went out after baby was down and I took the trash out. Maybe 10 minutes.
We're on a quiet cul de sac and the kids run in the street all the time. Still I'm not too worried about LOs safety. I'm more worried the bickering/fighting/girl stuff will be too much for the neighbors (LO is the youngest and only girl) so I wouldn't let LO play without me for long yet.
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Our road is super quiet and one of our neighbors who is a sixth grader was with them. I went inside for a literal minute. I think the circumstances deemed safe. I just didn't expect what would happen in an instant- like a new kid coming over and mixing it up. I think I have a high trust level in our neighborhood compared to my friends when it comes to LO playing with neighbor friends. We have given clothes, food and presents to these neighbor's kids so letting LO play across the street doesn't seem disrespectful, more neighborly.
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Sorry, just realized I misread previous post about it being disrespectful if neighbor's were not playing too. Was a little thrown off because I didn't catch that part. Agreed, neighbor's kids should be (and were) playing too unless there is an explicit understanding with parents.
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@808love: to me having a sixth grader outside playing with her is totally different! I mean the younger girls in the babysitters club were sixth grade. I do think I would still say something like, hey Sally I'm running inside for a second, keep an eye on her please? But no, that doesn't seem unreasonable. I was picturing all five year olds.
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I think I am pretty relaxed with my kid. I run in the house to get stuff while he's outside, but usually only when he if supposed to be staying on the deck. We have lots of windows so if he runs off where he isn't supposed to, I can usually see him and get out there pretty fast.
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My son is also 5 and he is allowed to walk to the next door neighbors house and play without me. I can pretty much see or hear him the entire time if I am outside though, our yards are compact and visible.
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Sounds reasonable if there are other kids there, especially a 6th-grader, and it's a quiet street. It wouldn't be a possibility where we live though (for starters just because our neighborhood isn't set up that way).
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It depends on the neighbors/ neighborhood. I think it's ideal for little kids to play independently (especially outside), but at 5 I would want to see what they were up to. Running inside for a sec if there is a nice older kid with them would be fine with me. This is how my neighborhood was when I grew up- there were TONS of kids of various ages playing and all the parents would keep half an eye out from the porch to make sure we were being safe.
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