in not letting my child six and four play out?

[gkys]

i was visiting a friend over the bank holiday, her boys the same age. were playing with a friend down the road, ok its a quiet cul de sac, (and i am guilty of being a bit precious about the boys) i let them out there while dh was watching, but called them in when he came inside, or rather he did.
my friend implied that i was somehow impeeding the boys development, her arguement being that theey have to learn to be streetwise. I diagree, thinking that they are too young have no road sense. the boys offen visit after school etc aibu to state that i don't want them playing in the street?

[heather1980]

My kids are 2 and 4 and play out at the front all the time.
now to be fair before i get flamed. i live on a very very quiet side street, there are no cars at all because the road is at the back of the house not the front, which is just a footpath with a grass verge on the otherside. they are only allowed to play in front of our house (on the path) and as far up as next door but 3 because i can see all 4 houses from my house and the kids next door and next door but 1 are similar ages and they playout together, they run in and out of each others houses all day, so there is at least 1 mum outside keeping their eye out on them.
But if we lived on a road no way.

[cherrypez]

my area is unsuitable, my 9 year old is not allowed to play out. However, when she was 5 we lived in a lovely area and she was allowed out front providing next doors girls and her own older siblings were watching her, which they loved. It's all about the area and the company IMO.

[TwoIfBySea]

Four is a bit young, even in a cul-de-sac there is traffic occasionally!

Where we used to live one of the neighbours let her 2 1/2 year old run about with the older ones. There were several near misses, we lived in a cul-de-sac but some still drove like idiots.

[ConnorTraceptive]

Ds is 6 and been playing out in our road (very quiet) since he was five. He knows the rules and the other kids in the street have the same rules so that helps. However if we ever have his friends from school over for tea I don't let them play out the front as I wouldn't want to assume it was ok plus I don't know whether they can be trusted to follow the rules!

So I think it's reasonable to ask that your children aren't left out unsupervised when at your friends

[mitochondria]

I have a six and a four year old. I wouldn't let them out yet. The six year old is relatively sensible, but not sensible enough to also be given responsibility to look after his brother, who has No Sense At All.

[gkys]

thankyou, plenty of food for thought, my boys are easily lead and the kids in question have been know to wonder off, so am sticking to my guns on this one, i was made to feel a bit PFB by the mother in question