From: dxf12@po.CWRU.Edu (Douglas Fowler)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: Neighborhood dangers...
Date: 13 Oct 1992 14:24:17 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: dxf12@po.CWRU.Edu (Douglas Fowler)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc12.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, grant@panhed.psc.edu (Shirl Grant) says:

>>If your parents let you run around unaccompanied in a neighborhood with 
>>unknown dangers at an age when you were incapable of comprehending them, it 
>>sounds like they were lax in their parental duties.
>
>Ok, I guess I'll get flamed for this one.  I do not think 10 years old
>is too young to "run around the neighborhood" without a parent (in most
>neighborhoods, that is, like mine).
>
>Now, in my neighborhood, Pittsburgh suburbs, there ar no dangers like
>railroad tracks, busy highways, etc.  But my neighborhood is full of
>woods and hills (Western PA).  My kids could fall and hurt themselves,
>and no one would know.  I plan to set time limits on "free play" (like
>30 minutes or something) in which they must check back at the house. 
>If they are not back, I will look for them.
>
>I do not consider myself a negligent parent, but I do not want to be a
>doting parent that will not let their children play without me watching
>every move.  They need their time alone to do those things that they
>can't do with Mommy there, ya know, those things that help them grow up
>healthy and confident.
>
>Am I really out in left field here?  I grew up really sheltered, and
>went absolutely crazy when I moved out.  I do not want to make that
>mistake with my kids.  Maybe I have the age range wrong.  What age
>should we let our kids play in the neighborhood unattended?  Since my
>son is only 2.5, this is truly new ground for me.

     Well, what you seem to be describing is an area where there are few
houses, so there are no neighborhood parents watching, say, a ball game in
someone's backyard. (When others can watch them, I think it's still important
for a child to learn to tell his parents where he'll be (i.e.: "Billy's
leaving for x, but my friends and I are going to Johnny's house on the next
block"), but the age range is younger - if there's an adult watching out his
or her window, such play can occur as young as 3.)
     For totally unsupervised play, I think it really varies.  Perhaps a
good gauge would be: Would you feel okay leaving your child alone in the
house for x minutes?  As with being alone in the house, there are
responsibilities that a child takes on when playing in woods away from
houses - one of the biggest is what happens if he's lost or something.  So,
30 minutes is probably a good amount of time to allow them to play before
checking back at the house at that age.  From my experiences, a 10YO should
know to avoid visible dangers, should know not to go so far that he gets
lost, etc.
     By 12 or 13, our parents would be dropping my friends and I off at the
mall - we had to stay together or have an assigned meeting place and time,
but we had lots of freedom by then.  I think the amount you're suggesting a
10YO have is about right.
-- 
Doug Fowler: dxf12@po.CWRU.edu      :    "Every baby born into the world is
Real home: Canton, Ohio             :  finer than the last."--Charles Dickens
 Trying to follow in the path of our :     "A baby is an inestimable
Lord;anything close will be a success:  blessing and bother."--Mark Twain