Camping outside

[wendle70]

8 and a 6 yr old (stepdaughters) camping by themselves in garden tonight (garden is not fenced off but in a quiet village). I'm a bit concerned but OH their dad thinks it's ok.

I let my children do this. Our garden is secure. We are in a small village. I couldn't see any opportunistic child-snatchers being able to see that there was actually a tent pitched in the garden.

Whois - can't be this summer as we have no spare weekends left til September and return to school, that's why next year.

And yes, when she is in Y10 (so will be 14/15y) she will be doing DofE with her school.

I'd sleep with them only because I'd worry myself senseless about unlikely things like one of the kids sleep walking or something. Abduction would be last on my list of fears.

Ds used to camp out in our garden and I used to leave the door open and sleep on the sofa.

This article says that in 2004 in England and Wales there were 375 attempted abductions by a stranger and 72 successful abductions by a stranger doesn't it? I thought it would be a lot lower than that.

www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/oct/04/child-abduction-statistics-england-wales

I think they are too young to be on their own, especially the 6 year old.

This article says that in 2004 in England and Wales there were 375 attempted abductions by a stranger and 72 successful abductions by a stranger doesn't it? I thought it would be a lot lower than that.

Interesting. I went to some child protection training once where they talked about the fact that certain child cases get loads of publicity (like MM, baby P, Victoria Climbie etc) but loads more happen that never hit the news and so people have no idea how much abuse goes on or how many kidnappings etc because we all assume it is just the cases that make the headlines.

I thought the statistic was that 8 children a year are abductee by strangers and killed?

I don't remember the source though.

I'm quite a free range parent but I wouldn't be happy with that.

The poor mum, no wonder there's a court battle if the ex/dad is this reckless.

The report on which the Guardian article is based shows that from a high of over 1000 child abductions in 2004, there has been a constantly falling trend ever since to 560 in the latest statistics. Over the same period, the proportion of abductions by parent has been rising, so stranger abduction is now in the minority. Also, that is only reported cases; they have not necessarily been verified, let alone resulted in anyone being convicted by the courts. It is not at all unknown for both parents and children to make these reports up.

In 2012, 2412 children under 16 were killed or seriously injured on the roads.

I hate scaremongering too. Those stats don't stack up with the reality as I know it. I work for one of the busiest police forces in the UK.
Know how many child abductions the Force has dealt with during the last year? None.
Year before? None. In fact I don't think there have been any since a high profile one in the 90s.

I realise there could be hundreds of abductions elsewhere, but on the ground I haven't seen it.
What I have seen on my patch, however, is rumour after rumour of child snatchings, mysterious vans outside school gates, Roma women stealing children from slides (yes, really).

The gossipmongers are usually quite put out when I tell them the truth of these alleged crimes.

Like Hakulut - my 8 and 6 year olds have done this with me asleep on the sofa (about 2 meters from the tent, but my not being in it with them was important for how exciting it was). Quiet village, enclosed garden. I didn't sleep much but was glad I let them do it, and will again under identical circumstances, but not without an adult sleeping within earshot with the door unlocked and windows open. It was great bonding for the kids too - they were best friends for a few days at least :o

I would just sleep out with them- problem solved.
I would wait 2 years and let them do it alone.

I'm not scaremongering. I was trying to find some statistics on what is happening and thought the Guardian would be a fairly good source. As I said, I thought the figures would be far lower

As others have said, it wouldn't be the minuscule risk of abduction that was at the forefront of my mind, but just the general things that could happen if one sleep walked, or got up to go for a wee but was a bit disorientated, or a fox came by and scared them, or they had a nightmare, etc.,etc. A 6 yr old is just too young to be sleeping outside, without an adult, IMO.

I'd be alright with kids camping out in a secure garden, but not one with no fence around it