Would you let a 12 year old and 5 year old go to the playground together?

[NotmyrealNC]

NC in case I get called a terrible parent!

Both are very sensible, playground is 5 minutes from our house and 12 year old has a phone. I'll be WFH.

Last day of the summer holidays and wondering if this is okay? My brothers and I were certainly off all over the place at these ages in the 90s!

Yes if the 5 year old usually behaves fir his 12 year old sibling.

Not an expectation at all. Both kids are perfectly capable of entertaining themselves quietly at home while I work, but I worry about them being stuck indoors all day so it would be for their benefit if they go. We only have a tiny garden and I generally prefer my kids to be outdoors and away from screens!

I'm surprised so many people are saying no.

Kids walk home alone from school at 8-9 years old here and I often see Year 7/8 children picking up their younger siblings from primary.

I would, but since I know they will encounter all the people on this thread, I wouldn't.

i wouldn’t.

Yes I just made it up. No, obviously a I said. I also said my children always took the school bus so wouldn't have affected us. I assumed it was common sense, younger end of the school you walk your child, older end they can walk alone at your discretion.

No I definitely wouldn’t. It is too much responsibility for a 12 year old which is unfair on her. It is too much of a risk and things do go wrong sadly.

Probably, yes. If they are siblings, the 12 year old is fairly sensible/reliable, it's a safe area/walk and the playground is safely designed. And you are a phone call and short walk away.

No I wouldn’t because every single one of my children has managed to injure themselves at the park! Including 2 broken arms. What would the 12 yr old do if the 5 yr old did that, or vice versa?

I would also worry that there might be trouble with another group of kids or an interfering adult- again Sod’s Law this would be the one and only time this happened!

No school buses here, thats not common in the uk it would be a public bus where I am and that would be even weirder allowing a child to go on alone

Absolutely not.

I let my 12 year old take my 7 year old and they are both incredibly sensible. But I’m not sure I would have let them go if he was 5. Like you we live in a nice village and no roads, but I think I would have worried too much. I still worry now if they go!

If the 5 year old has an accident, then presumably the 12 year old deals with it (if it's something like a cut knee) or rings you (if it's something like a broken leg).

What happens if the 12 year old has an accident?

email from school

Oh dear. You need to unclench a bit!

This.

The playground isn't empty or in the middle of nowhere, though. In the very very unlikely event that the 12yo is so injured he can't dial 999 himself, another parent nearby, or the man in the ice cream van etc would do it, as I would be very happy to do if I saw an injured 12yo in the playground.

What happens if a mum gets injured on the playground? The nearby 12yo could phone 999. This is the meaning of "society"

OP needs to judge on her local knowledge. We have a playground 5 minutes walk from us which involves crossing no roads and it's quite often empty. And it never has icecream vans - I'm not sure small residential area playgrounds, typically do?

I would not assume in OP's situation that someone would be there to jump in and help if the 12 year old was hurt. on the ohter hand i'd be totally happy for the 12 year old to walk the 5 year old to school because I know the route would be swamped with other parents.

Mums tend not to climb up climbing frames or play on the play equipment. Nor are they so likely to be targetted by teenage boys. I'm assuming these are the prime likely culprits for causing serious accidents.

I would be okay about them walking to the park or the shops but I would be a bit wary about the playground equipment but that’s because most 5 year olds that I know seem to lose their minds when they get to a playground.

For me it wouldn’t be so much about this as I also have a responsible older one and live in a safe area but -
it doesn’t mean we are immune from things like flashers or weirdos walking about.

I'm in Scotland and we've stayed in 2 different areas and both provided school buses for primary and secondary (depending on how far the school is). One house we stayed the council put taxi's on for my sons because there was no room on the small school bus when we first moved there.

There's a school 5 mins walk away from me that my kids didn't/don't go to, but I regularly see kids from around p5 - P7 walking themselves. And I know at my DDs primary some of her friends walk themselves.

So where you live do you need to pick up/drop off until they reach high school?

To add, there were school buses even when I was at school. I just didn't qualify because of the walking distance.

Where I live (non UK) this would be very normal.

Your school has quite poor judgement in my opinion. At ours they can’t be collected by someone under 16.

Especially as you think some of the equipment is unsafe I’d say no, it’s not fair to expect them to follow that rule or your 12 year old to implement it for her sibling. Just take them out on your lunch break to the park for 20 minutes

England