At what age do you let your older child roam the neighborhood alone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I let my 7 and 9 year olds roam about with their friends. There are 4 houses of kids their age, and they are all within 3 blocks. They have to stay together and alert the parent when moving from one yard to the next. The moms text each other with updates every hour or so.
We let them go the playground too.
We do live only one block off s fairly busy road, so we occasionally have cara driving too fast. They are very careful and conservative when crossing because we have really stressed it.

We have a pack of kids about that age in my neighborhood that roam around and they do lovely things like drop F bombs around adults who aren't their parents, give dirty looks to any adults that try to say anything to them, and they literally pound the shit out of each other.

I often wonder if their parents have any clue what's going on.

Oh please. I am guessing you were a saint when you weren't around your parents and hanging with friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live on Capitol Hill. 10 years old. I also let my now 12 year old DS take his siblings (7 and 9) to the nearby 7-11. 12 year old has a cell phone.

+1! CH, almost same age: at 11 my child (always with fully charged cell phone!) meets friends in the neighborhood and sometimes takes 8 y.o. sib to the playground, in walking distance.

[Anonymous]

The older ones (10 and 12) runs errands, walk to stores, etc. Sometimes they take their younger sibling (5) to park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live on Capitol Hill. 10 years old. I also let my now 12 year old DS take his siblings (7 and 9) to the nearby 7-11. 12 year old has a cell phone.

+1! CH, almost same age: at 11 my child (always with fully charged cell phone!) meets friends in the neighborhood and sometimes takes 8 y.o. sib to the playground, in walking distance.

I grew up on Capitol Hill & have great memories of roaming around after school with my sister and friends!

[Anonymous]

Walking to another friend's house or the park? 7 years old.

"Roaming" the neighbohood with friends (no destination, I don't know for sure where they are going?) 10.

[Anonymous]

No, I do not let my child roam the neighborhood alone. Mainly because I am not strong enough to survive anything happening to my children. Other parents are made of harder stuff. I am sure it is ok for them and their children. No judgement from me.

If my kids hang out with their friends, I know where they are. They are not allowed to go in woods and lakes, but they can certainly be in the backyard of their friends houses.

[Anonymous]

I have a 5yo and 7yo. No time soon. Maybe when DS is 10?

We have a neighbor who has 4 boys ages 5 to 11. They roam around with no supervision.

[Anonymous]

We have a pack of kids about that age in my neighborhood that roam around and they do lovely things like drop F bombs around adults who aren't their parents, give dirty looks to any adults that try to say anything to them, and they literally pound the shit out of each other.

I often wonder if their parents have any clue what's going on.

And? Shit like that is part of growing up--or it used to be. Have you never read ANY children's literature published before 2010?

[Anonymous]

Of course the neighborhood makes a difference. We used to live off a busy main road (Wisconsin) and there is no way we would allow DS to ride his bike around the neighborhood. Too many pedestrians on the sidewalks and he wasn't mature enough to anticipate things like car doors opening on the streets or cars making turns into crosswalks. We would allow him to go to friends homes in the condo building, but the parents would always call or text when a kid was on the way to and from.

We now live in Barnaby Woods and DS is 10. From the time he was 8, we would allow him to walk to neighbors' houses. The kids also bike because we live on a street with very little car traffic.

Again, the parents typically call or text to let us know when a child is leaving or heading over to another home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, I do not let my child roam the neighborhood alone. Mainly because I am not strong enough to survive anything happening to my children. Other parents are made of harder stuff. I am sure it is ok for them and their children. No judgement from me.

If my kids hang out with their friends, I know where they are. They are not allowed to go in woods and lakes, but they can certainly be in the backyard of their friends houses.

Translation:

I think coddling will keep them 100% safe
I think other parents who don't coddle don't really care about their kids

Newsflash: The world is so much safer than when we were growing up. You are letting 24hr news and worldwide social media turn you into a helicopter that will end up doing more harm than good for your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I do not let my child roam the neighborhood alone. Mainly because I am not strong enough to survive anything happening to my children. Other parents are made of harder stuff. I am sure it is ok for them and their children. No judgement from me.

If my kids hang out with their friends, I know where they are. They are not allowed to go in woods and lakes, but they can certainly be in the backyard of their friends houses.

Translation:

I think coddling will keep them 100% safe
I think other parents who don't coddle don't really care about their kids

Newsflash: The world is so much safer than when we were growing up. You are letting 24hr news and worldwide social media turn you into a helicopter that will end up doing more harm than good for your kids.

I am the parent who will not let my child roam alone in the neighborhood alone. Now let me do a translation of your post.

Translation: By calling the poster above a Helicopter parent, I can feel better if I neglect my children.

Newsflash : People in America have easy access to guns. Much more than any other country in the world. Which means that even the crazies have access to ways to create mayhem. Best of luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, I do not let my child roam the neighborhood alone. Mainly because I am not strong enough to survive anything happening to my children. Other parents are made of harder stuff. I am sure it is ok for them and their children. No judgement from me.

If my kids hang out with their friends, I know where they are. They are not allowed to go in woods and lakes, but they can certainly be in the backyard of their friends houses.

For as long as your child lives, something might happen to your child. But at some point you are nonetheless going to have to let your child go out alone. When?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, I do not let my child roam the neighborhood alone. Mainly because I am not strong enough to survive anything happening to my children. Other parents are made of harder stuff. I am sure it is ok for them and their children. No judgement from me.

If my kids hang out with their friends, I know where they are. They are not allowed to go in woods and lakes, but they can certainly be in the backyard of their friends houses.

I'm OP. I understand your fear. I posted this because I'm scared, too. But I need to weigh my fear against what's developmentally appropriate and beneficial to my child. I don't know how to post this without sounding judgmental, but I do wonder if you consider your fear level and whether it's reasonable. And whether it inhibits normal development of independence for your kids.