Leaving 7 yr old at park for 20 minutes

[Firsttimemum221]

Is this okay? Or normal? To leave a 7 year in a park for 20 mins, midday in SW London. Parent completely out of sight.

I witnessed this today and it made me feel nervous but not sure if that’s because I’m a new mum and wouldn’t dream of doing that.

No way.
never

Absolutely not imo

No never

But I do wonder if it was an emergency but then you’d take them…no I can’t think of a situation where this is ok

I would never do it.

No, not a normal thing to do.

Are you sure no-one else was supervising?

Glad I’m not just being weird then!! I felt really uncomfortable and anxious and shocked but started to second guess myself and think maybe it’s normal for 7 year olds

noooooooo

No.

I have a 7YO and live in SW London and I know no one that would do this. At most 2 minutes whilst you rush the younger sibling to the adjacent toilet.

Please say you reported to the police?

How did you know the child was 7? And also that no other mums were keeping an eye? Or older siblings?

I thought that maybe it was an emergency because the parent walked off saying ‘I’ll be back in 5, don’t move.’

I was about to leave the park when this happened but couldn’t bring myself to in case the child needed help so I kinda stayed and waited for the parent to come back. Which was just over 20 mins later. Oh, and the parent returned with 2 other kids to play. So it didn’t look like an emergency.

@PartyOFive A few mins prior I’d acc had a conversation with them, the 7 year old was kindly sharing a football with my toddler. So I got chatting to the parent hence why I know the age as I asked how old he was.

It was a small park, there were about 2 other families there. I saw them come in and I saw the parent walk out and didn’t notice them talk to anyone else. Obviously could be wrong but I just got the feeling the child was alone, no one spoke to them whilst parent was gone.

I would consider 8 the absolute minimum age to leave a very sensible child in a nice park they are familiar with that has plenty of people around. My DD has a tendency to fall off playground equipment and bleed everywhere so I didn't do it at that age, she could be very trusted not to wander off or get into trouble with other kids though.

I would, and have done in the past, but we’re not in London. I’d have to see the park and surrounding area to make s decision

What do you mean by out of sight?
Was the parent somewhere nearby but out of sight? That's very different to being completely left alone.

No I wouldn’t dream of it (7 year old ds who is very capable and sensible!)
However I’m always shocked as where we live there are children of age 3 upwards always playing out in our large village (with busy main road through it) with no adult supervision, and it seems the norm here with lots of families (although I’m sure there are some like me that think it’s too dangerous)
They’re also not always supervised by older children (not that that makes it ok as I still think it’s ridiculous!) as often there are 5/6 year olds using their scooters up and down on the footpath running adjacent to the main road. It seems like an accident waiting to happen!
All that to say, I might be more cautious than a lot of parents based on what I regularly see!

Have you changed details for anonymity op ? Only ask because I left my 7 year old in a park today for literally 5 minutes while I nipped to the loo. In my situation my older child was watching her, she was sat on a bench in the park but would have probably looked like she wasn't even related to my youngest and definitely would have looked like she didn't know her. Unless she needed older dd, in which case she would have stepped in.
Without older dc there then I absolutely would not leave 7 year old. Only started leaving older dc anywhere from 10 and only for a short time. So in that case yanbu