To ask what age you would let your kids go to the park alone?

[hellofrommetoyou]

Would you let a 7 year old girl and 10 year old boy to go to the park alone? Park is a two minute walk round the corner but cannot be seen from my house. No roads to cross on the way, just a huge big grassy area.

Yes I would. Mine do and they get lots of time with friends having fun. I used to walk by very frequently to check on them but now trust them to go and play safely then come back.

Yes. Our park is 2 minutes away and out of sight (but you can hear if you’re outside the house), only a cul de sac to cross.
I started letting them go from 8 years old as a group. Same for playing out front.

I used it as a stepping stone to gradual independence. If they could be trusted to do that and come home on time (had a watch to check) then we could negotiate what next. This was over a period of time so that by the time they started secondary school I could be sure they were ‘street wise’ (market town so low crime rate) and ready for the responsibility of coming home to an empty house for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Where I live probably. I'd be more comfortable with the younger being 8 though. Nearly everyone at our park knows each other.

To get to my local park there's a pretty bad road to cross though so I'd walk them over and collect at a pre-agreed time. Ds1 is only 4 so only vaguely thought about this for the future.

Our local park often has a few 13/14-year-old boys yelling awful vulgar stuff at year 6 girls, I would be reluctant to let any of my children go to that park without an adult.

I didn’t make the eldest responsible for the younger ones but said they should all look out for each other. No ‘one’ was in charge they had to work together.

Depends on the area ours did round here. But they had boundaries in place and they were only allowed there for shortish periods during the day.

Mine were both allowed from age 7.

Do you know the park well? Do you know the kids that usually hang about there? That would be the deciding factor for me.

14!! 😵

Could you buy them a cheap, non smart phone to share? I think independence is so important. We moved to a rural village last summer and DS (11) is now having a full on Famous Five style childhood with his new friends from our street. He’s come on so much in terms of confidence and independence, not to mention he’s spending a lot less time on technology.

@shouldistop yes very well, have grown up here myself and have been in our house for over 5 years, never any bother at this park and is usually very quiet, mainly empty.

@LadyCatStark that's a good idea! Just a wee cheapie. Aww that's nice about your son, that's how it should be, that's how it was when I was growing up, out all day everyday when I could. Miss those day.

The park being quiet and empty would worry me actually. I’m probably a bit fussy by MN standards though.

In that situation yes. All of ours are across main roads, that have loads of parked cars. One you would have to go through a train station so I didn't allow my eldest to go alone until he was about 9/10.

Yes to the 10 year old maybe with a friend or 2 so not alone. Not the 7 year old though as the eldest can't be responsible for the younger one. 10 year olds are quite a bit more mature than 7 year olds but still can't be expected to watch the 7 year old.

Depends on your area. My 9 year old has gone to the park with her friends since 7 years old. She's been on the school bus to the village unaccompanied since 4 1/2 and will go 40 min the bus to the High school at 11 🤷‍♀️

I'd probably allow this, especially if the 7 year old is closer to 8 and quite sensible. And assuming the 10 year old is also relatively sensible. I might be tempted to quietly wander over secretly after about 15 minutes to see how they're getting on though.

No, but I live on a main road in London. It’s not normal for children of that age to be out alone around here, and kids don’t play out.

I would be reluctant to allow children go to the park alone before they were too old to actually play... but that might be because my local parks are large and include a lot of woodland and secluded places (and since we are quite rural, lead onto miles of fields).

I've never heard of any crimes taking place, but it would be easy for a child to be harmed without anyone seeing and the risk just isn't worth it.

If it's a small park with good visibility then i might feel differently.

Yeah I'm with pp, I'd prefer a park not to be quiet and empty.

I'd let them. I'd also consider buying the 10 year old a cheap phone.

My 10 year old goes to the park with his friends. Park is about 5 minute walk from our house on our estate. He generally goes on his bike.
I have an 18 year old who also used to go out to play football with his friends in the park from age 9.

Both walked to and from school on their own from age 8.

About age 8, depending on the child. Mine have all gone at that age.

We let our older two go at age 10. I wouldn't let my 7 year old go yet, not even with his siblings because they shouldn't have to be responsible for him in public.