to wonder whether I have done the right thing.

[catewood21]

DD and 2 other Y6 girls gone to play at a disused quarry turned-beauty spot and woods a mile away from the village.Quite isolated with a popular trail with runners and dog walkers about 200m away
They will be fine, yes?

[BeautyQueenFromMars]

I wish I'd been able to do things like this when I was young. I wish DS could too, but it's not possible where we live and he'd probably fall in anyway.

[LineyReborn]

The Quarry of Adventure

[Jojoriley]

Well said calamityjam. Sounds like you're allowing your dc the freedom to explore the world and by showing confidence in their ability to handle themselves, building character. Don't doubt yourself.

[RunswickBay]

Sounds great.

[Hamiltoes]

When I read the first few responses I thought you meant they were 6 years old and was a bit myself... My 5yo is only allowed around the corner to the park herself. But age 10/11? I was out with my bike from morning til night, and only came home if I couldn't scavenge/ borrow food and got hungry. Depressing that kids don't seem to do this these days.

I think its great! Only on mumsnet would you find anyone thinking this is in any way not ok.

[calamityjam]

The world is not more dangerous than 30 years ago. Unfortunately it's parenting which has changed. I have seen it so much since I had my first DC 20 years ago. Parents now feel that must justify every parenting decision they make because they feel that others are judging them, years ago, pre social media, parents would just get on with it but now they feel that aren't doing their job unless they are 100 percent involved in every aspect of their DC's lives.The huge emphasis on safeguarding and health and safety has meant that parents feel that unless they helicopter parent their kids, they are neglecting them. It's easier to have them next to you 24 hours a day, than to risk them fall foul to the perceived dangers out there which have been perpetuated by the media in their attempts to build up moral panic and create sensationalistic headlines. It is a brave parent nowadays who admits to allowing their primary age children free rein to explore the world without constantly handholding them through it. So good on you op for allowing your child to do what we all cherished so much in our own childhoods.

[SquinkiesRule]

MyLocal we had the same thing happen, only it was behind the shops where my Mum was at work, we were all about 10 and burst out laughing so hard no way we could run anywhere, he ran off with a red face. Then we trotted off to the shop to tell Mum.

[ILikeUranus]

When you say a disused quarry, has it been restored, or is it just abandoned with massive deep holes/cliffs below precariously resting boulders?

[MyLocal]

Added to my above post, we did however deal with it, looked at each other and shouted "run" and we didn't stop until we reached the park at the end and sat down next to an old lady shaking.

It has, I am afraid, had an impact on my opinion.

[MyLocal]

I went into the woods with a friend age about 12 , 37 years ago, we were alone for a while then a young lad probably about 20 appeared from nowhere and asked if we wanted to see his willy.

These were the days when we all played out and had endless long hot summers with no mobile phones only coming home to eat. I have never forgotten, I wouldn't be happy personally.

[dontcallmethatyoucunt]

the world is a different place now unfortunately

Really? Well we may have more cars, but I think operation Yew Tree tells me all I need to know about 30 years ago.

[Jw35]

Agree the world hasn't changed! Just we know more due to media.

[CuppaTeaAndAJammieDodger]

They will most likely be absolutely fine and have a blast - just don't watch last Saturday's episode of Casuslty!

[Minisoksmakehardwork]

They'll be fine. It sounds like they are having great fun learning survival skills. Awesome.

Is it formally turned into a local beauty spot and looked after or just naturally turned into one through neglect? Maybe get them some water safety lessons and such so they can enjoy the summer there?

[Orda1]

Way too young for me, I'm sure they'll be fine though.

[BoatyMcBoat]

Splendid! I would have encouraged dd to go, with friends, if we had a place like that round here.

[ladyformation]

Definitely all good - sounds like my whole childhood and I managed to survive it!

[opensideno7]

No wonder we are bringing up a nation of dimwits, kids these days can barely breathe without their over protective parents taking over, they don't get to discover how to get about as mummy and daddy are always ferrying them everywhere. At 12 & 10 I put my kids on the train to go and stay with their cousins. the train was cancelled half way into the journey and they managed to find out which bus they needed to take for the rest of it and then arranged to meet up with their aunt nearby to where they had intended to end up. No panicking just got on with it. My two SD's 17&16 couldn't tell me which baggage carousel we needed to go to as they had no idea which airport they had flown from...

[middlings]

Nah, the world hasn't changed. We just know more about the risks. They were always there.

^^this.

[Meggymoodle]

There's risks in every aspect of life - they could run into serious issues if you let them sit on the internet instead of going and playing outside. I just hope I'm as sanguine as you are when my two reach this age. They will have a wonderful time, and presumably the other parents are aware and are also OK with it.

[TwentyCupsOfTea]

Sounds lovely and fun! I would allow this from 8 onwards!

[GraciesMansion]

I'm sure they'll be fine. However we live in a village with a similar woods/old quarry up the hill and there is no chance I would let my kids play there and neither do many others. The quarry is really quite deep and there's too much potential for someone to fall and be seriously injured. It makes me nervous when I'm walking there, let alone thinking about children running around and not really taking care. The woods and being a mile away wouldn't be a concern at all though.

[fusionconfusion]

Herecomesthesun

And as long as none of them turn nonchalantly to the others and say:

"I'll be right back"...

[fusionconfusion]

Nah, the world hasn't changed. We just know more about the risks. They were always there.

From the time I was 8 or 9 I was let off to play like this - never so much as got into a near-miss or scrape (and we went to much more dangerous places sometimes, like the local industrial yard where we made dens out of crates).