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, in a town in south of england. Kids enjoy chatting in the street - kicking balls about, sometimes hide and seek - I LOVE it. Wish they did it more - I think with a small tweak and a bit of blocking some of the passing traffic it could be made even more welcoming for children.

Yes.

My observation is that the lack of playing out unless you live in a very unsafe area, is mostly due to parents being overprotective
I’m not overprotective. There are just no kids for mine to play with. My house is relatively expensive so the people living nearby are either older people (more money but past the age of having kids) or high income professionals (where both parents work so the kids are in childcare a lot of the time). The street is empty.

Cul de sac in London and mine play out whenever they can. I love that they know all the neighbours and have a network of adults who can help them as well as friends who are almost like siblings.

100%. In a small village here, About 50% culd-de-sacs, and 'through-roads' that are still fairly quiet. Woodlands 10 minutes walk away. Children walk to them, and play in them a lot.

Loads of children play out here unaccompanied from pretty young ages. We live on a new build estate on the edge of a city in the South West. There are loads of play areas, parks, skatepark and football pitch so plenty for them to do!

No, but I know it's something they should be doing

i live in a small town in the south. a group of kids play on the main road near me. i'm just waiting for one of them to get run over. a girl nearly did the other day when she rescued her bike from under the wheels of a reversing van. not sure why they cant play in the park at the end of the road.

Northern Ireland, small town.

From my front window there is a green area in the middle of the estate direct in front of it, the children (mainly under 10s) all go and knock for each other, play on the green area, draw with chalk on the pavement, come over to see if can pet my cats / chat, ride scooters, play ball etc. I love to hear the sound of them all out playing. They know which houses they can go to when someone falls over but apart from that they are generally unsupervised.

The older ones are stuck inside on gaming / homework. No signs of them until late evening and then its mainly vandalism sadly.

There are loads of kids playing out here. We Iive in a prominently private estate type area with occasional council houses mixed in there. Its am up&coming area, lots of investment in the houses going on. It's a series of side streets and cul de sac, all with speed bumps, 20mph. I never see very young children, id say probably 10years +

Yes - in London with a shared garden and about eight families with primary school aged kids. They will knock or buzz for each other and play out in the middle - visible from all properties in the square and no access to cars, so it’s really lovely. Post war build with an architect who must have been thinking about kids coming back to London after the war.

the only annoying bit is sometimes the kids can get a bit too eager and I’ve had to say no we really are trying to eat our dinner so please stop knocking!

Yes, village in Ireland.

Yes, both when we lived on a quiet cul-de-sac in a large town Cumbria, and also now where we live in the north-east US in a leafy suburb. We don't live on the actual cul-de-sac, but slightly up from it so there's still no through traffic.

Currently they play out either in peoples' back yards (which are all sort of connected) or down at the playground which is about a street and a half away.

Yes, children here (ex-mining village in west Yorkshire) play out from quite young, like 5+. It looks like quite a rough neighbourhood but is actually fairly safe. I like it that my dc can go out and play with friends of different ages from different schools.

Yes my street is full of kids playing most days weather permitting, the older look after the younger and lots of parents on hand in kitchen windows and doorsteps supervising. There's a lovely community in my street. North east England

No as I live on a very busy road where people think its a race track because of the curves and bends.!

At my last place They did we had a big green and quiet roads

My 10 year old takes himself off with his mates round the village and the surrounding fields, walks, streams and woods and they even have a "den" or two. They go everywhere. Summer here is like Stand By Me movie to them. Happily no leeches but they do need to watch out for ticks.

We're in South Scotland, by the way.

Village in northern Italy. Yes , absolutely loads, on their own from around 7

Yes there are always children playing out on our road once school finishes, although my own dc are too old now. I live in a reasonably quiet cul de sac in South Dublin.

Yes, NE England. Mine started around age 5 just at the playground and progressed from there to roam around the playground woods, down the beck etc with friends.