What time is best to wait until to let your kids play in the garden?

[ObiJuanKenobi]

Our dc have just turned 2 and since the weather has brightened up love being in the garden playing.
One of them woke up at 430 this morning and has been asking non stop to go in the garden and is now having a mighty tantrum about it but I think it's not fair on our neighbours to have kids playing noisily in the garden early in the morning and they should wait until 9, DP thinks they can go and play now.

What time is reasonable?

I don't let mine out till 10, 7.30am would still be disrespectful to the neighbours imo.

Compromise on all sides is needed, not just on the part of the kids

There’s no compromise there at all! Compromise would be agreeing on one day per weekend where the children didn’t go out until 10, all other mornings are fair game from 8am.

I think about 9am all week long, but honestly, its never OK to let them make antisocial levels of noise. Some noise is certainly to be expected, but screeching, screaming, repeated banging etc is always anti social, whatever time it happens - and young children always need supervision in the garden.

On the same vein, I think that in the evenings it's reasonable to sit out in the garden socialising til perhaps 10pm at night - but the same rules apply - anti social noise is never OK. So some noise, chatter etc is fine and to be expected, but loud music, shouting, screaming etc is antisocial regardless of what time of day or night it is.

I live in a second floor flat. 3 years ago some new houses were built on some wasteland at the back of the block,all with small gardens. One by one,every single one of these gardens has acquired a trampoline. Lat summer (I think it was in June) I got up in the night,about 3.30am to go to the loo. While I was in there,I heard a strange noise,which after a few moments I realised was a trampoline squeaking. Mystified,I went into the kitchen to look out the window. In one of the back gardens of the new houses,I could see 2 small lights bobbing up and down. I realised they were lit up mobile phone screens,held by 2 children bouncing up and down on the trampoline. At 3.30am. On a school night! I was lost for words.

I’ve never thought about it but mine are out from about 7 in the week, a bit later in the weekends but certainly by 8.

It's your garden which you pay for and if your child wants to play then let them play.

We live in such a tip toey society. I doubt your child will have a megaphone closeby and will be blaring away into it.

I'm really glad that I don't have you for a neighbour. I'm happy to see that for the majority of this thread people care about others apart from themselves. It makes me shocked to see the attitude of a few posters who think that it doesn't matter at all what others think since it's their children's home. I bet these are the same people who would bitch if others were playing music in their garden late at night and waking up their kids.

Obviously everyone is at different points in life - some have young children and others are retired with everything in between. Ok order for everyone to enjoy their life as much as possible we all have to be considerate of others. I would say that 8am is an okay time for kids to be allowed out and any earlier I think shows that you have no consideration for anyone else. In return I would expect people to not be loud outside my house when the kids are in bed. I leave for work at 6am and try to be as quiet as possible since nobody wants me to play loud music in my car when I leave. There is only so far as you can take this consideration though as you can't always please everyone. I work night shifts as well as day ones and obviously that means I'm often sleeping in the day. I don't expect people to stay indoors all day. It has to go with the majority of society. Like I say I'm glad I don't live next to the few posters who clearly think their children are the centre of the universe and can do what they want. These are the children who grow up with a huge sense of entitlement :-(

My neighbours have had chain saws going pre- 8am before now that’s the worst on a weekend

7.30 weekdays, 8.30 weekends seems reasonable.

I love hearing children play, can happily doze through it. Guess it depends what they’re up to though! Teenage girls doing that ear-shattering thing that they do, not so much. But that’s later in the day round here.

We should all find out where paid for garden person lives and set up speakers next door.

Selfishness like that deserves a desert island. Go buy one.

10am at weekends for shrieking kids, and try to keep it down. Let it tantrum, answer is no.

I would think 9am is reasonable. I wouldn't let kids out before that.

Good god! I wouldn't like to be any of your neighbours suggesting 07.30 is fine to allow a toddler out to play in the garden!
No-one (that I can see) has asked if you're surrounded by people, have a large garden with grass and no hard surfaces (toys make a noise), what type of area you live in or if your neighbours are elderly/middle-aged/young w/wo children; these are all things to consider.
I never let my children, and now my grandson, play outside until after 09.00 at any time of year. We have always lived in a terraced house, with a mixture of neighbours; kids don't know 'quiet', they drag things around, drop things, talk loudly and these days scream a lot when excited I've noticed.
So no… it isn't reasonable to allow your child to play out at that ungodly hour and if your partner thinks it is, then I suggest he's the one to get up with the child to supervise and the one to answer to the neighbours when they complain.

I also think 7.30 is too early!

Am surprised by people saying 10am! I let my 16 month old go outside after breakfast. Although he mostly goes straight for the sandpit or his flower bed so it’s reasonably quiet.

But in my pre-child days when I was sleeping until 10am on the weekend —drifts off into delightful reverie— I was never annoyed if neighbours started their lives at 730/8am. It’s just part of living in an urban area that everyone is on slightly different schedules and that’s life.

8a.m. weekdays and 9-10a.m. at the weekends. People who work need a lie-in and those with small babies or children do not want them woken too early either.

Any time after 8am would be fine, I think. We've had the gas board digging up in the garages since 7.30am this morning (and all week actually!)

8.15 in the week (8 would be fine but doesn't fit with our routine, they have breakfast at 8 and aren't allowed out til it's eaten). 9 at weekends. A play park not immediately adjacent to houses would be fine earlier.

My ds was outside in the yard at 9 this morning. But I knew both sets of neighbours were up as I could hear them through open windows and doors

I'd say 9 at the weekend unless you think neighbours like to sleep in (our are early risers generally)

I think 10am would be considerate, but 9am is acceptable. Any earlier would be unreasonable if they're noisy.

We normally tend to stick to about 9am in a weekend, next door is empty at the moment but it was a middle aged lady who was lovely and enjoyed hearing the kids playing out (she often told me not to worry when she heard me asking them to keep it down!) but I doubt she would have enjoyed being woke upto it! The other side are a bit of arses and keep parking on our driveway/ doing up their house at 7:30 on a weekend (I woke upto a digger in their front garden this morning) and it's getting right on my nerves and we are up early I sh with the kids! I would never be so inconsiderate to neighbours!

I think 9am possibly 8am. We have a voluntary code of conduct covering noise and our local council rules for builders which actually are good to follow so eg the council allows building on saturday 9 or 8am - 1pm I think it is and nothing on Sundays although I am not suggesting locking children up on Sundays. I am an early riser even now the children are teenagers and the earliest I will do my noisy mowing is about 9am just for the sake of sleeping neighbours.

Most of us know however that small children are hard to contain and I certainly would be more than happy to hear their noise from 7am any day compared to booming loud music outside in summer after 10 and even to 1am which we very occasionally get.

I don’t have kids but couldn’t really care less what time they played outside, but then being in a semi I’m more likely to hear them inside than outside. The children next door to us are outside playing as much as possible and it’s actually quite nice to hear them having fun, I fully realise though this is just my opinion and others would take issue before 8/9am.

9am at the weekend. 8am weekdays but told not to yell.

Weekdays not so bad, most are working. Weekends - later.

Most people are very loud now - I forgot my earplugs so spent a train journey like counting from a loud conversation between two females about their sex lives. It was either that or get arrested for thumping them. At least shrieking kids are only being kids.