Do you let your 7-8 year old out to play?

[Blossomhill]

Personally I wouldn't let ds (8 in Jan) out to play yet as I feel he is too young to deal with being unsupervised.

I know a lot of people that do let their 7/8 year olds out and some even younger.

I would be very interested to hear people's opnions on this!

what do you mean?

my 5 year old plays in the garden and the field next to our house. Do you mean wandering around the streets?

Nope I don't, thats what their back garden is for.

on the road outsdie our hose yes
deffo

I mean outside of your house so I guess wandering the streets. I let my 2 play in the garden but wouldn't let them play outside of the house (unless of course I was supervising).

My Dd is 4.5 and I wouldnt dream of letting her out to play however, she has a friend who is younger than her and she gets out to play as her mum says she knows where her boundaries are and has the road sense she needs. Personally I would hope mine could go out and play at 7 providing they were grown up enough (I did), but it depends on the individual child, you know what is right for your child.

( its a cul de sac thing of 12 houses not the a303)

Ours is a culdesac too but not as posh as Cods so still no.

ours is all painted in burbveryy check

PMSL yeah I bet.

Nope, no way.
Not around here anyway

Nope. Glad we have a garden and glad we dont live anywhere near her friends. Would hate to have to be an ogre every night saying No you are not playing under the bloody street lamps.
Have no idea when I may let her wander, but not yet. Shes nearly 8 but has the build of a 6 year old.
Grown women get raped and mugged and murdered on thier own. So do grown men now i think about it.
Not yet. Not till shes got a little bit of savvy about her.
I also read that 11 is about the age they can judse the speed the cars.

not outside our house, too many cars and lots of people i dont know use street as a way from a to b. they can play outside my mums as it is a quiet cul de sac, very little traffic and lots of curtain twitching neighbours who know who the kids belong to.

when ds was in reception class one of his friends came knocking on the door to see if he was going out and couldnt understand why i said no. the 4 year old in question had come a ten minute walk (at adult pace) from his house, along a main road leading to a port so lots and lots of lorries, most of which speed up there. i used to see him all over the place, almost ran him over once when he came zooming round a blind corner on his bike on the wrong side of the road. felt like slapping his mother

Yup and his five year old brother with him. But we live in a lovely housing estate in the country with 40 houses around a large green so they can be seen all the time.

My ds2 has been playing out in the street since he was 5! At first we used to keep a very close eye on them - there are 5 little boys in the street the same age - but now I rarely check on him at all: He's only 6.5.

I expect by next Summer he (and the rest of his gang) will all be allowed to go down the street, across the road, across another road, round the corner, and into the big playing field.

Ha! Bet you're all really shocked now

DS1 (8) still doesn't cope so well with completely unsupervised play, and rarely goes out to play in the street; but that is partly his choice.

yes we are on an etsate of a lot of houses so its reall ysafe here
leave caropen( dh gets mad)
bikes out
all ok ( apart form hne the pumpkin was nicked rememebr?)

So what age do yours play out Cod?

I personally would find it so hard not knowing where ds was and what he was doing. Even the thought of it is making me feel very ugghhhh. I know I just couldn't let him out. God knows when I will be ready. When he's about 15????? As for dd, never!

Don't have a garden, so no, she won't be going out alone for a while.

I don't - dd1 is 7.5. I know there are children in her class (and younger) that are allowed though. I wouldn't be comfortable with it.

I do but find it really hard.

I didn't when DD1 was that age but by the time it came round to DS2 I was a totally slack mother and he would bugger off on his bike.

cod, I am always forgetting to lock my car - go to supermarket at 6pm, struggle in with bags, usually close boot and then discover 2 days later that I never locked it

The main reason I started this is that one of ds's friends whizzed past my house on his bike but was in the road. Now he lives at least 5 minutes away and wasn't looking at all where he was going.
The mum says she's not happy about him going that far but can't stop him. WTF? If you haven't got control over a 7 year old, god help her when he is 14!

read this as do u let ur 78 yr old play outside!!!!!

un i can see them so it is nt really an isseu

thy have benplaying out for ages
ds1 is 7 adn hes been out here since ehe was 4

goign off to our local green is antoher issue!

he comes home from school by himself once a week ( not hwen it wintery dark though)

s

Mine have strict rules they have to obey if they play out, and they do. For example they are not allowed on the road on their bikes. They also have boundaries as to how far they can go - not far - within sight. We agreed these between all the parents, so all the boys have the same boundaries, and all the families have similar rules and guidelines as well.

It helps that there are a number of parents and children in the street, and we are all happy for each other to act in loco parentis if we are nearest, or just the first to hear.
So we are happy for each other to scrape them up off the tarmac if necessary , but also to tell them off if needed as well.