to NOT let my 6.5 yo ds play out the front...?

[WoodlandHills]

Because his "best friend" is starting to leave him out as her mum lets her play out the front. She used to come here to play after school etc and vice versa. But now she always wants to play out in the street I don't feel comfortable allowing ds to do that yet. He called for her earlier and came back really upset as she had said she didn't want to play with him as she was going up the street and "you're not allowed to are you dsname" :(

The street is reasonably quiet with not much traffic but we live on a big estate and I just think, you never know who's about, and six just seems young to be not safely in the house or back garden. I see other dcs who look similar ages playing out too, so maybe I am being U and PFB I'm not sure! as he is my oldest so got no others to compare it too.

Depends on your area. Can you give hm a watch so he knows to check in every 15 minutes or so?

Boundaries - you dont go past this lamp post and that tree - door stays open

But it depends on your area. FWIW mine never went out until they were 8 or 9

What are you worried about?

i wouldnt, even if my ds was mature enough and i felt i could trust him.
i was thinking about this, when iwould let him out to play. and i think maybe 8, and even then itd only be round our block.

My 5.5 yo has been playing out or a few months, and several other kids of her age also play out. Street of 100 houses on a larger estate, fairly deprived but friendly area, lots of unemployment so plenty of adults about.

"you never know who's about"

It's no more dangerous out there than it was when we are all young and played out, not to mention that your child is statistically overwhelmingly more at risk inside yours (and your friends and relatives) house than playing outside.

My mind just thinks irrational thoughts like what if he got abducted or if he gets run over, they are my main fears. I have visions of a car coming down the street too fast and he has ran out after a ball or something :(

He is a sensible boy and quite a scaredy cat so I don't think he would do anything silly. Its more the idea of something happening to him.

I think I was only about 6 or 7 when I was allowed out the front but then we lived in a very "naice" area as opposed to my somewhat dodgy council estate....

Do what you feel comfortable with I've only just started letting ds out and he's 9.

we lived in a very "naice" area as opposed to my somewhat dodgy council estate

I'm going to make a sweeping generalisation here, dont leap on me - but streetwise kids usually have their wits about them, 'naice' kids who aren't street savvy perhaps, through naivety are more, ummm, more, I cant think of the right word. Innocent? Inability to assess danger. Thats it.

It would be the risk of getting run over that would worry me. I would imagine the vast majority of 6 year olds would be too young to play out unsupervised.

I doI just sit out the front with him or if I need to go in there is always another parent outside. It how it works :)

I think 6 is too young to play out in most areas, 8 or 9 seems more appropriate. Caveat - unless there are lots of sensible, older ones out too

I don't think unfriendly adult danger is any more likely than when I was six in the 70s. The main difference between then and now, which so many people forget when saying "when I was a child..." is that in the 70s, there was hardly a car on the road and now there are lots. And I'm with you OP on the too fast drivers. There was some eejit racing his dirt bike around the village and doing wheelies at school chucking out time, today. We have a quiet back lane that people mostly just use for parking up - except a couple of times a day some boy racer tears down it with his foot on the pedal.

It depends. My 5.5 is very sensible and if its a quiet culdisac (?sp) I would allow her out to play with friends with very clear bounderies of where she could go (which would be very small area not out of sight of the house). I would also as an earlier poster said, keep the front door open. And initially I would look out every 5 mins to make sure I could see her!

However, he is your child so you must do what you feel comfortable with.

I would let him out to play out side, If you are worried put your own safeguardsin place and sit and watch him.

I would be worried about traffic more than anything else so it really depends on the road where you are. I let my dd (7yrs) off to play with friends away from me when we are in the park but she knows if she goes too far or doesn't come back often enough to check in then she will have to stay with me next time.

I don't because a)the way our flat is situated, I can't see her at all b) no garden, only a car park and a very busy road with no lights and heavy good traffic on it.

DD1 has played out on our street since she was 6. We know most of the neighbours though and the kids all know one another from school.

My DS is only 2 so i haven't had this yet, but we live in a quiet cul de sac where lots of children play out. However, some of the cars drive way too fast and this would always be my fear. There is a little boy who plays out unsupervised on our road who can't be much over 3 (def not school age) and he has run out in front of my car before without looking - luckily i always drive slowly and take the corner cautiously as i know that the kids play out, but if he'd have done it in front of a driver who was going a bit fast then it could have been really nasty. Can't really believe his mum lets him out his own (and he is often out completely on his own (ie. even without other children) as he's out playing whilst the older kids are still at school.