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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wonder whether I have done the right thing.

65 replies

catewood21 · 11/04/2016 14:51

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?

OP posts:
AlpacaLypse · 11/04/2016 15:31

It's exactly what children that age should be doing - well done for letting them do it!

NynaevesSister · 11/04/2016 15:44

I want to be 11 and playing Katniss with my friends in an old quarry :(

OurBlanche · 11/04/2016 15:46

I've just looked up a friend who runs 'Role Playing Experiences' in the forest Blush

firesidechat · 11/04/2016 15:52

When I was about 8 or 9 I went out for hours to play in woods and chalk pits and came back when I was hungry, sometimes on my own and sometimes with others. It was a normal part of growing up. However times have changed and it's hard to give your children the same sort of freedom without agonising over it. It makes me a bit sad that the generations of children that have grown up after our generation have rarely have that experience.

I'm in my 50's.

firesidechat · 11/04/2016 15:55

Well done op. It's heart warming to see children having that kind of independence.

georgiatraher · 11/04/2016 15:56

feel that it might also be a good place to meet boys...

TitaniumSpider · 11/04/2016 15:56

Are there bridges and caves for them to play in? If so, YABU as they might meet a troll and, as all MNErs, know meeting a troll rarely goes well.

firesidechat · 11/04/2016 16:03

feel that it might also be a good place to meet boys...

What's wrong with boys?

middlings · 11/04/2016 16:07

OurBlanche my sister googled "massage London" last week as she's going to get me a spa voucher for my birthday. She doesn't think most of what came up is a suitable gift for a 39 year old mother-of-two. Grin

What great fun. They'll come back all scratched and dusty and starving and sleep like the dead tonight.

Sunnyshores · 11/04/2016 16:17

Why do people say, it was OK for me (30 years ago or whatever), so its ok for my child now..... the world is a different place now unfortunately. And each child is different.

herecomesthsun · 11/04/2016 16:18

The way you have put it does sound like the start of a horror movie. They will be fine unless

  • they went there in a thunderstorm
-there is a disused castle nearby -there is a cemetery next door
OurBlanche · 11/04/2016 16:22

Sunny odd as it may sound to you, many kids across the country have the same childhoods as us old biddies did. They come to no less/more harm than we did, or that their less free range peers do.

And yes, there is evidence for that, posted many times n threads here, RoSPA etc etc etc

thatcoldfeeling · 11/04/2016 16:23

As long as no deep quarry lakes/quicksand sounds lovely!

hellsbellsmelons · 11/04/2016 16:29

I agree Sunny the world has moved and often not in a good way.
Playing out should be standard, even today - but it's not.
There were just as many very 'dodgy' people about then and we survived.
In fact we thrived.

And..... every child was different 30 years ago as well.
So not sure what that means.

SquinkiesRule · 11/04/2016 16:31

It was OK for us 30 years ago and ^the world really hasn't changed that much* More cars so they need to be aware of traffic and more people so probably not as private a game of Katniss.
We used to be gone from after breakfast till tea time. On horseback, anyone without a saddle was an Indian and the rest of us were cowboys. Bloody brilliant childhood.
The local kids to us occasionally Dd if I kick her out play in the woods near the edge of the houses, you can hear them. they make tree swings and playforts and have a fantastic time. They usually start tuning up around year 4 and all the age groups play together. If you can't find your child, chances are they are in the woods, or the playground or in the sweet shop.

fusionconfusion · 11/04/2016 16:34

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).

fusionconfusion · 11/04/2016 16:36

Herecomesthesun Grin

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

"I'll be right back"...

GraciesMansion · 11/04/2016 16:39

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.

TwentyCupsOfTea · 11/04/2016 16:42

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

Meggymoodle · 11/04/2016 16:44

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.

middlings · 11/04/2016 16:45

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

^^this.

opensideno7 · 11/04/2016 16:50

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... Shock

ladyformation · 11/04/2016 16:55

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

BoatyMcBoat · 11/04/2016 16:56

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

Orda1 · 11/04/2016 17:02

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