Do children still “play out” where you live? Where are you? (Anywhere in the world!)

[Holidaying7]

My children are reading a lot of (mostly American) fiction where the kids play out with their friends on the street. Babysitters Little Sister, Ivy and Bean, and others.

Whenever I read these books to them, I get a twinge of nostalgia as that was my childhood!

Do kids still play out where you are? By that I mean, they (with parental permission) independently go and knock on their friends’ doors and play there or on the street without adult supervision?

Interested in anywhere in the world you might live where this happens still!

I live in London, so obviously that doesn’t happen here. But my sibling who lives in a popular-with-families suburb doesn’t have it there either.

Yep mine do. They are 10 and 8 and they play with a load of kids out on the streets or people's back gardens. There are always kids knocking on the doors. It's great.

SW london and the kids seem to play out on our street, but it is a gated road (private development with a mix of flats and townhouses), so I suspect that factor makes a big difference.

Small middle class town in Yorkshire. Nobody plays out here. Most of the mums work so the kids are in childcare until 6pm every night, and at various expensive activities on the weekends.

I played out as a child in a poor area with unemployed mums who couldn’t afford activities and kids stuck at home all the time. Apparently kids in these circumstances still do play out. But middle class areas are like ghost towns now, because of working parents and theatre, ballet, music, football, cricket, gymnastics, swimming etc.

Yes where I am but some dont have gardens so being outside is playing out.

Youngest kids I see out are about five with older siblings.

My dc are teens and not interested in being out.

Suburban London. DC's played out with kids on the same street from age 8 and 10. They started to roam further afield to the local park and Costa in year 6 (10/11). Bus into nearby town around yr 7 and now they are teens they go into central London regularly with me guiding them on where to avoid.

When we lived in the Netherlands up to mid 2000s kids played outside. At age 7 it was totally normal for DS to cycle over to his friend's house to see if he could play out then cycle back home to tell us where they were playing then cycle back to collect his friend.

Children cycle/rollerskate to school without parents from Y3 (age 7ish).

In winter DCs would skate on the canal in front of our house.

Yes, my DC did. We live in a gated cul de sac in Dublin so it was safe. Although my DC can find or create trouble anywhere so they were mostly supervised either by me or an au pair. And now that my DC are older there are new families with young-ish DC and they play out. Plus some of them do exactly the same forbidden things that my DC did, like playing with the electric gate (which is very heavy and would cause a serious injury if they got a foot caught under it).

Yes, all the time
I'm in Glasgow

Strangely, my DCs who have been raised in London have had more freedom than my neices in the countryside, due to loads of nearby parks and public transport.

Yes, Yorkshire village. 9YO does but 4YO is too young IMO. I'll consider it next Summer when he's coming up to 6.

I see some older kids about probably about 10+ and some local teenagers. It's nothing like when I was younger though in the 90's and early 00's - we would be out literally all day over the fields and the woods and only come back when we heard our moms shouting it's teatime !

Yes - I'm in NE Scotland and it's very common for kids to go round for their friends then to the park etc. When they get to about 10, it's the big adventure to go on the bus with their friends to the nearest big town about 20 miles away on a Saturday.

The kids play on my street. We're very close to a motorway running through the midlands so the houses here have no through roads. We have tons of cats pootling around too, sleeping in the road sometimes!

It's not like when I was a kid though. We used to roam for miles in packs.

Yep, my DS regularly knocks for a couple of the other boys that live within a few houses of us, and vice versa. They play on the grassy area outside 2 of the families houses or around the estate on their scooters/hide and seek/it etc…
I love that they do this, takes me back to my childhood, and all the kids are great with checking in with parents.
my DS is Yr 4, we live on the edge of a large ish SW UK city

We are in a terraced street in a small city centre. Kids don't play out in the street here as there's too traffic - but a couple of miles away, my mum is on the outskirts and it's much quieter and more rural, abd they do there.

Mum's always been great with kids, so the local kids sometimes knock on her door and ask if she's coming out to play! 😆

Yes, South of Germany. Kids play out in the communal garden from the age of 18 months if their elder siblings (3-4) are around. When the group from our few houses are together (12 children, 18 months- 13 years) they go out to the park. They're expected to walk to kindy alone.

A little town north west of England. Kids play out by themselves aged 7 upwards. Always making camps,going to local parks( quite a few) on bikes and skateboards. Lots of freedom.

Yeah, NW England village.
Plenty of kids play around the street and park.

Yes they do. I'm in the suburbs a town in Fife.

Mine are out all day when it's dry and just come home for food. Doorbell rings all day long.

They play in the park and nearby streets or each other's gardens. Loads of kids. Bikes. Scooters. Rounders. Hide and seek. Football etc No trouble at all.

Not much has changed since I was a child.

My DD10 and her friends play out. We're in South Wales

Yes lots of playing out in the midlands village where we live.

Residential road in Surrey. Yes the kids do play outside together. Not all of them but there a little group of 3 or 4 that are good friends and regularly play out together.

The other kids are probably a bit too old or a bit too young to join in.

Not anymore. There were plenty of kids when our oldest was little, now they are all big or moved out.

No, but not because it's not safe.

I live in a village in the SW and there are very few children in the village at all any more - nearly everybody here is past retirement. I know it's just the way it is, but it is sad all the same to see so many lovely family houses with just one or two people living in them and for there to be so few children here.

Yes my neighbours kids do, it’s lovely to see (if sometimes a bit noisy!). I’m in Edinburgh, quiet dead end development.