To think 4 is too young to play on the road alone?

[SMarie123]

Cat what age would you feel comfortable leaving your DC play on a cul de sac without full adult supervision ?

I ask the question because 2 of my neighbours leave their 4 year olds / almost 4 year old unattended outside under the care of a 9 year old. It shocks me because my DC will be 4 in June and I couldn't imagine leaving him outside. He literally has no sense and 9 is too young to watch a 4 year old . Am I too protective?

Gtugccbjb

I genuinely feel sorry for your child if you think its acceptable for them to play out alone at 3. It's nothing to do with the child and how obedient they are/ how well you have taught them. It's about the risks and the environment around them and like it or not, it takes a second for a child to he snatched and theres nothing they can do it about it if they're 3 and you're not watching them.

Op, my daughter is 4 and no way would she be allowed to play out on her own yet, and probably not for a good few years. I don't take my eye of her for a second in public and that's the way it should be.
I have no time at all for the argument that it teaches independence as it doesn't at all.

I did as a child in a safe cul-de-sac, but my current house has no front garden and is right on the main road through our village. Tractors bomb past at 30mph and if a child wasn't paying attention I dread to think what would happen. I would rather my dd went to the park down the road if she had an older sibling.

OK it's different playing in the front garden to playing on the actual street. I would be too worried to let younger DD do that but I do let older DD play in the cul de sac with the other kids on the street. It's mainly in one of their front gardens though. If they want to go out on bikes/scooters me or DH will go with them. I had way more freedom than that when I was a child but I grew up in a rural area whereas now we don't so I think they do OK, enough freedom for them to feel grown up but not too much.

I don’t let my eight-year-old play out let alone his three-year-old brother

We live in a nice village in a close with 12 houses and still I wouldn’t allow that

I don’t believe it has ever been ok to let a 3 year old out on their own. My 3 year old is allowed to go up and down the pavement outside our house while I’m in the front garden. If I go inside she has to come in with me but can have freedom in the back garden. She is generally very sensible and well behaved but she is 3 and impulsive. I wouldn’t trust her on her own for quite a while yet.

Personally I wouldn’t do it with my children however I guess it depends on where you live and what your neighbours are like.

Where I live I’m in a small and quiet cul de sac and the neighbours all look out for each other. Everyone knows each other and it’s a private road so we don’t get just anyone driving up here.