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

Also despite all the comments on this thread I have never seen a 5year old playing out without being supervised.
I suspect it would depend on the parents social class as to whether people call it neglect or giving children freedom

Yanbu!
It's not just the weirdos around, it's cars, horrible older kids, getting lost or hurt etc honestly no child under 10/11 should be left alone unsupervised outside, it is neglect imo. Its one thing your child playing up and down the street with neighbouring children and another where you don't know where a 6 year old is for hours.

Blimey do you live near me??? I’ve been saying this about the children where I live, I’m scared one of them is going to be run over they never look, ride bicycles in and across the road. Outside from 7.30am until late they appear to be 5 and 7 years old. Obviously they aren’t outside that early on school days but after school they are out until late. They also go to the shop together with a list. Now when I was young this was so much safer and not so scary. I don’t understand why the parents don’t worry at all. So you have my sympathy.

Your children must have lots of fun

I wish I could agree, but it really wasnt that safe an area in the grand scheme of things. Very council. And despite my fond memories, our parents had rather an out of sight, out of mind attitude towards childcare.

The only time I’ve ever seen a 4/5/6 year old playing out without a parent was the old neighbours who actual did get all her children removed by social but again that was as part of a huge horrible picture of neglect.

I don’t let my 7 year old out to play in the park or field behind my own house without me. There isn’t random children playing here it’s year 6 up groups that meet up and play at at arranged places.

I did a dissertation on this. The risks are no more than they once were from a starting point; It’s just national news and some horror stories has made everyone really angsty

Its this that has made things more risky as a result. When more children played out there was natural surveillance by other children and older kids. Now 90% are stuck on Xbox it’s made the other children more vulnerable in a way from stranger danger type issues. But these people were always there in the past too.

It’s an incredibly important part of childhood playing outdoors in natural unsupervised play. It builds pathways for nature to be restorative which can be drawn upon at all later life stages. Literally reducing blood pressure, improving mental restoration and even reconciling life cycles when approaching death etc.

I think people forget this. But it’s so important. You probably never thought that the first time you learnt about tensile strength and risk assessment was climbing a tree. But it was, and you never even realised it. Play is an incredibly powerful learning and development tool.

Common sense at last @LemonSwan. I feel so sorry for kids now.

Maybe you were just lucky then that nothing untoward happened.

Those horror stories you talk of are peoples children. It's real life.

Tbh I assume that anyone who lets their child play Xbox all day and night are probably the type to also let them play out unsupervised.

Generally parents who care about their children's well being ensure their children have access to many different activities and hobbies and give quite a well balanced upbringing.

The trouble is the streets are more dangerous for the children that do play out or go to the shops when there are no other children there.

I'm of the age group that played out from the age of two. My dd played out at 4 and of course she was taught not to go off with adults or cross roads as were all her friends.

There are so many dangers in this world and we would love to wrap our children up in cotton wool and never expose them to any, but they are missing out on valuable learning (and fun) by being so mollycoddled.

That being said, as I say the streets are not as safe as before because of the absence of other children.

Yes to this!
Why are the arguments either stuck indoors on a device or outside unsupervised? Most parents I know would not let their children aged 6 to 9 to play out alone but also wouldn't let them sit on a device inside unsupervised for hours either.

Consider all the unvetted immigrants coming into the country from countries where women and children are not respected the way they are here.

It's also dependent on the child's maturity rather than age too. My child would probably go anywhere if Match Attax cards were promised 😆

A neighbours daughter has been left out to wander the road alone from the age of 4. Now they are 5 they are allowed to go off a good 300m to the other side of the estate. Their mother thinks it's odd how I don't let my 6 year old do the same (!?!?!)

Pretty much this here too, we actually bought our house because we’re opposite the small playground and green beside it that basically all the neighbourhood kids play on so my 7 year old plays out every day it’s dry I always have a window open or the front door and have my eye on him constantly. We are a no through road too so only neighbours drive past and almost all of them have at least 1 child out there too 😁 we all look out for each others kids.

What have I just read??
If you're not willing to give more context - then I don't understand the point of your post at all TBH - why bother posting with such a generalised question?? Any replies you get will be entirely useless because no one on here has any context to the situation you're worried about??

If you're after general advise you could of used the search function to look for old threads about kids playing outside. Otherwise if you really have genuine concerns based on other factors that you haven't disclosed then you need to take it up with either the police or social services so you can tell them the whole story and they'll make an informed judgement from there.

I think it’s wrong and agree with pp about people underestimating how many weirdos are around. I played out at that age and was also put into precarious situations due to it. There are instances of children being killed or abused because they were playing out or getting into accidents. It’s just not a risk I would take. A child in secondary school I think is more reasonable and by that age mine will have a phone. As for the online grooming comments my child won’t have access to a computer in their room and I’m well aware of how grooming can occur and will have honest conversations with my child about it and again limit their internet access. Just because some parents are lax doesn’t mean we all are.

Depends, if it was a cul de sac like when I was a child no issue. We were unsupervised for hours upon hours. I only had to tell my mum if I went to the park at the back of our house so she knew where to go to find us for dinner. We didn't have phones either back then.

I live in a very rural village in a no-through road with mixed home ownership (mostly fairly large bungalows with retired owners) and social housing. Children play out as I did in the 70s. But I despair at unsupervised toddlers. There is one little girl who is about 2/3 who is always shoeless, often alone but sometimes with a group of older children (up to about 6). I've never seen her with an adult. I moved here about 6 months ago but seem to have travelled back 50 years.

Yeah - I was wondering why the heck we were using a child murdered when I was a kid myself as the figurehead for MN faux-horror about children playing out. And this was NOT a nice leafy green suburb situation either - the Garths were a very rough part of the city (not that that justifies anything that happened to her)!

As for laws needing to govern when kids can play out - FUCK OFF! These kids have just come out of a pandemic where their freedom was dramatically restricted - have you seen the mess that has caused in terms of child mental health, activity levels, obesity, kids sitting online ripe for grooming and fucking god knows what else?! How the hell would you distinguish from a 10 year old going to the shop for a bottle of milk to help out their parent from a kid wanting an illicit go on the swings? Child curfews? Perhaps a child catcher?! Swing and roundabout wardens?!

I made a conscious effort to encourage and allow mine to start to spread their wings from around age 9 - short walks to the corner shop and popping over to the local park (and horror of horrors - crossing a busy road at the crossing points to do it). No mobile phone either... but they do have smart watches that can call and text home if required - I don't LET them take their phones with them because it being a target for mugging. Think it's important to let them take baby steps with becoming more independent rather than suddenly hitting secondary school and having to figure everything out in one lump. That's why I've done things the way I have - so by now they're able to walk into the local small town, or to the local retail park and supermarket and park themselves - PRIOR to starting secondary.

Where I live there’s a big park in a completely pedestrian area and kids play out from quite young. Everyone knows everyone. There are issues and drama fairly regularly but the parents hear about it and deal with it. I think it makes the kids much more savvy, independent and socially adept than the ones who don’t have this kind of opportunity.

OK so to provide a bit of context, I am worried about some children (from the same family) who are at the same school as mine and considering saying something to the school.

Playing out is not the only issue but I don't think it's normal for children under 10 to be out all day with the parents not knowing what they're doing either. So I was going to mention this alongside other bigger concerns, and wondered if social workers and teachers would comment on this thread to confirm that it is a valid concern for children's safety. And that's why I asked about laws, which some posters have had a strong reaction to.

In all honesty there was one comment at the start of this that said something like, don't worry about laws, just say something if you have a concern for a child and I think that's what I needed to read.

My 8 year old has been playing out for a while now - his best mate lives next door and we’re on a very short, quiet cul-de-sac. They aren’t allowed out of the close, we check periodically to make sure they’re ok and if they come into our house or his friend’s house to play, I or the other boy’s mum text each other so we know where they are.

I was playing out from around the age of four, and by their age I was roaming for miles, out for hours at a time. It was normal then - and I don’t think it’s actually more dangerous for children now. In saying that, I wouldn’t feel comfortable with my son walking miles out into the countryside on his own or with his mate, but I do think a little freedom is good for them. They’ve got so much out of the small degree on independence we’ve allowed them.

If we’re talking about a five year old out in all weathers, poorly clothed and not going in for meals, that’s concerning, and I think would be seen as part of a bigger picture.

Def report it, I think / hope most of the answers here are assuming for about 10 mins or maybe the parent is very near the park and able to watch, maybe with the kids but the 8yr olds out of sight but still in the grounds etc. I would be very concerned if an 8 or 9 Yr old was out without an adult fairly nearby. Eg getting a bus somewhere other than a school bus is clearly a big no until 10 or 11. Probably older tbh unless travelling to school. Being in a cul de sac is surely watched over by most parents so not playing out as such.
I teach secondary school and I highly doubt most of the current yr7 go very far alone. I've had year 12 so 16 or 17 who need to be picked up and signed off from the station when we do a London trip, most are allowed to either stay in London to make own way home or make own way from a station their parent specified but some say sign over to me still.

YABVU, unless you see those children getting into trouble