Playing outside alone

bumpuser260585

At what age is it okay to let kids play outside alone?

This may be a FFC, but while I was making dinner tonight I left J playing outside on the patio. I had the door and window open and could see him the whole time. He just played with his sidewalk chalk and Buzz Lightyear toy. I'm not going to make a habit of it, but it was nice to cook without him underfoot.

pitterpatter129

We just moved into a new house. It has a smallish back yard that's fenced and absolutely no plants except grass. One toddler slide and a sand table. I send the kiddo out all the time now while I cook! The door is inthe kitchen, so I just leave it open and

bumpuser260585

Good to know it isn't too bad to do. Our yard is fenced too. I felt a little bad doing it, but he seemed perfectly happy.

enjoylife

Maybe it should be my fffc then too.... A has been playing outside since about 18ish months old. I can see him from the kitchen window and our sliding glass door is off the kitchen too. So if he's outside I have the door open so I can hear what he's getti

jillybean800

Well, we don't have a fenced in yard so I would have to say no. But I do let him play in our living room alone and it's fenced in haha!

PGASTL

I am totally not ready for this yet! And maybe not until they are like 7 years old!

  (FWIW, I'm also not judging at all - the women on this board are amazing mama's and I know you make the best decisions based on your situation!)

I a

jarebearsmom

jillybean800:

Well, we don't have a fenced in yard so I would have to say no. But I do let him play in our living room alone a

pitterpatter129

I will say our new house has a full privacy fence that is shared between four other houses, so all sides back up to someone else's yard and all those neighbors have their own kids too and I have met them. There is basically no way to snatch a kid unless y

bumpuser260585

PGASTL, I completely understand. I was checking on him every 2 seconds. The dog was out there with him, so nobody could have come down our driveway without her barking.
I felt that he was safe, but I did worry the whole time. I'm working on not b

bosha711

I guess it totally depends on where you live & how your yard is set up.

For us, I wouldn't let DS out by himself till he's a lot older. Our yard is fenced in on 3 sides - the driveway runs along the side of the house, back to a detached gara

bosha711

PGASTL:

I am totally not ready for this yet! And maybe not until they are like 7 years old!

  (FWIW, I'm also not

chickaboo1974

I think it depends on the size and the layout of your yard.  We have a huge backyard- our lot is 1.25 acres- but it is totally fenced.  However it backs to a forest preserve- complete with a pond and a coyote pack (we have padlocks on the gates)

shaw

We live in a nice family friendly community with a fenced in backyard.  I will walk inside to refill my drink or grab the phone...etc... But I wouldn't let J play alone outside.  My fear isn't that he would get hurt....but that some crazy person

PGASTL

SpitsNGiggles:

PGASTL, I completely understand. I was checking on him every 2 seconds. The dog was out there with him, so no

lrn327

Given your situation OP, I would assume that'd be okay.  We live in a condo in the city on a super busy street so not only would we not let him play by himself, but we don't even have a yard!  If fact, pretty much the second we step out our fron

TMNTgirl

We've been letting him play outside by himself for a few months now.

We have two big sliding glass doors in the loving room and a window from the kitchen that look out into our backyard and side patio where his sand table is. And it's fully p

xxbabycakesxx

jarebearsmom:

jilly

xxbabycakesxx

From my kitchen window, I can't see the backyard.  I can't see the front yard either.  So, I wouldn't feel comfortable letting G play out there by himself.

My next door neighbor has a rottie and in the middle of the night one time I saw

tiffanyp

bosha711:

I guess it totally depends on where you live & how your yard is set up.

For us, I wouldn't let DS out by

jarebearsmom

xxbabycakesxx:

jarebearsmo

watermellens

I wish! I need to fence in our backyard - and this still wouldn't be an option for us because the kitchen is at a higher level than the yard...there are 5-6 steps leading down to the basement, then a landing where he would go outside, but the window faces

kj07

If we had a setup like yours we'd let B play outside by himself. 

We're in a townhouse that shares a wall with one other townhouse.  We have a small patio that opens onto the shared carport/driveway area.  I have left him in there

Sonadora

We have a fully fenced yard with a 6 foot privacy fence all around...but I'm not ready for her to be out there alone yet.  There are portions I can't see from my kitchen (on the sides of the house) and it just makes me nervous. Probably next year

missmuffin87

It really depends on the yard situation. If I could see DD and she was within earshot and I knew she was safe on the patio I would be ok with it for a short period of time. 

We have plans to fix up this little area of my moms yard that used

TripMomma

We have a fully fenced back yard, Jericho started going out there "alone" (with the trio) last summer. Our house is a small 1 level and I can hear/see them from just about anywhere.

klinky

Our yard is not child-safe (there's a huge drop off, and the fence is at the bottom of the drop off) so no. But our patio has glass railing all around with no gate, so I let her go out there from time to time. Or, more like - in & out, in & out, in & ou