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TracyFD
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 1:31pm | IP Logged
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How old do children need to be to play outside without mom for 30 minutes or so? Mine are 6 (alomst 7), 5 and 3 1/2. We live almost in the country on a 1/2 acre and on a very low-traffic street. Are there any laws or rules of thumb?
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Tracy
Mom to 3 girly girls,
1 absent-minded professor, and one adorable toddling terrorist.
Pinewood Castle
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Bridget
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 1:39pm | IP Logged
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My rule of thumb is when they can be trusted to not go near the road and will stay in the yard. We have specific 'landmarks' in the yard that are their guidelines. For anyone under four, i still keep a close eye out the window.
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Bridget, happily married to Kevin, mom to 8 on earth and a small army in heaven
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 1:43pm | IP Logged
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I agree with Bridget. It really depends on the maturity of the child, the safety of the neighborhood, etc. I let my 3 and 5 yolds out together, but they must stay in the immediate vacinity of the house, and I am always peeking out the window. They can go a bit further if they are with my 11 yo.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 2:00pm | IP Logged
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yep.. I'll let anyone walking go into the back yard.. it's entirely fenced and I have a window I can see almost the whole yard.. so makes it easy to keep a check on them. Out front depends on the child and how well they've learned the rules.. my now 5 yo girl was allowed at 3 to be out front with her older siblings.. and I never worried about her.. she's so easy going and compliant (comparatively, she's hardly perfect) and I still check on my 4 yo boy way more than I ever checked on her.. because he was sooooo.. hard to keep track of at age 2.. and even though that changed.. well... I'm still reeling from it 
But we live in a small community, pretty safe, dead end road, know the neighbors etc.
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mellyrose
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 2:10pm | IP Logged
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The boys are allowed in the backyard anytime - and have been since they were about 3 probably? It's completely fenced and I can see them from the kitchen windows. Now that I think about it, they have gone out there younger, but we used to have our patio completely fenced with a gate, so they couldn't get any farther than the back patio. We've since removed the gate because they were older.
I don't let them play in the front alone. I do let them run out and get the newspaper in the morning, or go next door to my mom's house (but she only lives there a couple weeks out of the year right now), but we're talking a minute or 2 max. I also don't have a window that gives me easy access to look out front.
Melanie
Mom to Colin(6), Nate(4), and baby girl on the way!
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Fuzzy
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 2:22pm | IP Logged
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This is such a hard thing for me! My kids are still so small, but I wonder when *I* will be ready to let them outside by themselves.  We live in a townhouse, without a fence in the back, so that makes me nervous too.
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 Fuzzy
Mom to DS 12, DD 10, DS 7, and DS 4, and DD 1!
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LisaD
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| Posted: March 15 2007 at 2:33pm | IP Logged
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Anyone old enough to open and close the sliding door by themselves can go in the fenced backyard to play without me. In general, no one is allowed to play in the front without an adult. Sometimes in the summer months I will let the oldest two play on the front lawn, if I am sitting by the open living room windows. We do live at the end of a fairly quiet cul-de-sac, and know all our neighbors, but I don't plan on letting my kids ride bikes out front alone until they are 10 or 11. Constant vigilance...
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Mama to dd(99), ds(01), ds(03) and ds(06)
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Topic: How old to play alone outside?
