To think that allowing young children to "play out" is a safeguarding concern?

[LongTimeLurker234]

Was just wondering how people feel about children between the ages of say, 6/7/8/9 "playing out" unsupervised by adults for hours, and without a phone. Going to the local parks, shops etc... Are there any laws about it?

I'm posting this because I'm actually concerned for some children, not just because of this issue alone but this is part of it.

YABU- playing out is normal
YANBU - safeguarding concern

Safeguarding concerns for me would be: small children out late without an adult, a child or siblings out in the cold, not playing and/or not wearing sufficiently warm clothes, and young children crossing busy roads without an adult. I'd find children of 8 or 9 crossing a road using a crossing ok. Or a group of children playing in the park OK.

Sometimes it's easier to think in terms of Key Stages. You'd expect KS2 to have more responsibility and independence than KS1 so oddly a child in Y3 might be ok to go to a shop on their own, probably ok by Y4 but definitely not Y2. I'd worry if I saw a Y4 on their own in the cold though.

The problem is there is no legal age you can leave a kid alone! Its an area with no guidelines so parents have to play by ear