To worry when 10yr DD went for an early run alone

[BelleBoyd]

My DD woke me early this morning saying she was going for a run and left. She kept to our road and was back in half hour. Is this ok? Just seems unusual behaviour? She hasn’t done this before and doesn’t run usually as a sport.

Some of the remarks on here make me think how things have changed. When I was 10 I would be out playing in the road with the neighbourhood children all day in the school holidays. No-one supervised us. There was also a public pool a block away and me and my 6yo brother would go there on our own every day of the summer. This was in the inner suburbs of Johannesburg in the 1970s! Not the safest place on earth by any means...and my mother would be having a two-hour afternoon nap every afternoon while we played out unsupervised in the street. If you did this nowadays people would be calling the police!

(I am not condoning my patrent btw, they also smoked in the front of th car with the windows closed while we sat in the back, transported bunches of kids for miles on open-back pickups, let us swim in rivers with crocodiles and bilharzia in them, and drove us around with no seatbelts...not things I would ever have allowed with my children!).

FFS so much scare mongering on here! If she really wanted to sneak out she wouldn’t have bothered waking up OP to tell her where she was going. She’s clearly missing her sports clubs and wanted to do some exercise, which - although apparently running is not usually her sport of choice - is not out of character for her.

At that age she needs to be starting to get a bit more independent and running in a built up residential area is perfectly safe. There aren’t paedophiles lurking on every corner, waiting for an unattended minor to run past - if you’re worried about unsavoury types, they’re far more likely to be the ones running/volunteering at her usual sports clubs, and taking groups of girls away on competition weekends etc than just arranging illicit 7am meetings and hoping the kids parents don’t ask any questions!

I was just reading the thread on obesity and people are discussing all the ways in which sugar tax, subsidised veg, a starter pack including “high quality salt and balsamic vinegar” should be given to those living in food poverty etc would all help. And here we have a sporty kid wanting to go and do some free exercise and people are trying to pass it off as grooming/anorexia etc

Mumsnet madness.

Being out on the street alone is statistically the safest place for women girls. They’re far more likely to be sexually abused by people they know than by random strangers, so stop locking them up to keep them safe and let them be confident out in their world.

@Rhine

Still fast asleep at 7.30am OP, really? That’s late for most people on a weekday.

What a redicilous statement, for all you Know OP could have worked a night shift or wasn’t feeling well or... you know fancied sleeping a bit longer... ! God MN is full of judgmental know it alls at the moment!

So people don’t let sensible 11 year olds out of the house unaccompanied in case they get snatched by people traffickers?! My mind is blown. Never met a person like this crazy irl!

It would have been extremely unlucky if something had happened!
With a 6 year old regularly wandering alone at 6am? Such innocence.

From the OP's post the incident happened one time not regularly?! Having said that 6 year olds play outside in my street all day long.

@Watdafark

Imagine if our grandparents had been this hysterical.

Yes, especially when they were sent up chimneys.

I'd just suggest she doesn't go out running at the same time every day and keeps to areas where people are about. She'll be fine.

Is it safe to post anything on MN anymore without getting judgemental and extreme responses? Glad your daughter is running OP and asked your permission before she left.

My DS started going for runs at 11. As long as she is sensible in telling where she is going and takes a mobile I'd have no problem. But you say she only ran on your road, anyway.

@midnightstar66

*It would have been extremely unlucky if something had happened! With a 6 year old regularly wandering alone at 6am? Such innocence.*

From the OP's post the incident happened one time not regularly?! Having said that 6 year olds play outside in my street all day long.

I was clearly responding to the post about the 6 year old who regularly sneaked out of the house at 6am and neither parent noticed for years. I even highlighted the post in question, so I've no idea what you failed to understand?

Glad your daughter is running OP and asked your permission before she left.

She didn't ask permission?

Sounds like a good habit to develop to me - ten year old used to exercise wants to exercise. The only issue is being on her own - could you go with her?

@Thisismytimetoshine I know you highlighted the post, as did I. She said he did it - not that he didn't it regularly or every day. She just mentioned the one time!

I have a 10 year old DS and I wouldn't have let him do that. Everyone's different though.

Running up and down your own street at 10 years old is not an issue and the OP doesn't need to go with her.

Wouldn’t have worried me. Ten is a reasonable age unless you live somewhere dangerous.

[quote midnightstar66]@Thisismytimetoshine I know you highlighted the post, as did I. She said he did it - not that he didn't it regularly or every day. She just mentioned the one time! [/quote]
She did... I misread it. Apologies!

A 10 year old barrelling out of the house alone at 7am announcing she'll be back "later" wouldn't bother you?
@Thisismytimetoshine as long as they were back in time for dinner.

they’re far more likely to be the ones running/volunteering at her usual sports clubs, and taking groups of girls away on competition weekends etc than just arranging illicit 7am meetings and hoping the kids parents don’t ask any questions!
I know volunteers who have helped at children’s sports clubs for decades, giving up a lot of their time in all kinds of weather to help young athletes. It’s a tiny proportion who have abused their positions of trust. Reading posts like this must make them feel awful.

That's great OP - she's running up and down your street. Not sure why people have got their Bridget Jones' in a twist about this.

Omg 😝😝 10 year old running up and down street with a neglectful rip van winkle as a mother.

I can vaguely remember being 10 and the mad get fit schemes my brother and I would cook up, stomp around a bit to Mr Motivator and such like.

My 10 year old DD doesn't go out alone and she knows she doesn't get to just announce what's happening either.

@Rhine is 7.30 seriously late to be sleeping?! Lots of people are on holiday from work, people do nightshifts and a lot of people are sleeping really badly just now. I slept till 9.45 this morning because I had crippling period pains all night long. DH is on holiday this week and he got up with DC at 8.

@Toothsil

My 10 year old DD doesn't go out alone and she knows she doesn't get to just announce what's happening either.

Not even for a walk to the shop? Or to play with local friends?

We had so much more freedom.