1. Standard memberyo its me
    Yo! Its been
    Me, all along
    Joined
    14 Jan '07
    Moves
    63170
    27 Jul '10 18:45
    When do you think is a good age to go out without adult supervision?

    My generation, as children, in our town, we spent hours out, as long as our parents knew where we were we had such fredom. I remember being on the back of my brothers bike going three miles from our home to the beach when I was junior school age (that's between 7 and 11).
    My chldren have mobiles and safer bikes, helmets (that they do wear!) and the roads are safer, with some cycle lanes. But I feel really reluctant to let them go out without me.
    I let my 8 year old go to her friends home (no main roads to cross, about a 5 minute cycle for the two of them- her friend picked her up, she wasn't alone at all) but I worried so much that she might get lost (she knows the route really well, so this is a bit OTT). I gave her an hour that she had to be back after and I rang her twice to remind her.

    I'm thinking, maybe 10 is a better age to let her go out.
  2. Standard memberkaroly aczel
    The Axe man
    Brisbane,QLD
    Joined
    11 Apr '09
    Moves
    102618
    02 Aug '10 07:57
    Originally posted by yo its me
    When do you think is a good age to go out without adult supervision?

    My generation, as children, in our town, we spent hours out, as long as our parents knew where we were we had such fredom. I remember being on the back of my brothers bike going three miles from our home to the beach when I was junior school age (that's between 7 and 11).
    My chldren ...[text shortened]... I rang her twice to remind her.

    I'm thinking, maybe 10 is a better age to let her go out.
    It really depends on the child. Some mature quicker than others .
    When I first let my kids walk to school by themselves, for example, I would follow them secretly for the first few times.

    Also just check up every now and then. Make sure their stories check out.
  3. Germany
    Joined
    27 Oct '08
    Moves
    3118
    02 Aug '10 12:47
    I suppose it depends on where you live and on the child. I was born in a small, quiet village with no traffic lights and have no recollection of not being able to move freely.
  4. Standard memberGatecrasher
    Whale watching
    33°36'S 26°53'E
    Joined
    05 Feb '04
    Moves
    41150
    02 Aug '10 14:28
    It depends much more on the environment than it does on the age of the child.
  5. tinyurl.com/ywohm
    Joined
    01 May '07
    Moves
    27860
    02 Aug '10 23:57
    Originally posted by yo its me
    When do you think is a good age to go out without adult supervision?

    My generation, as children, in our town, we spent hours out, as long as our parents knew where we were we had such fredom. I remember being on the back of my brothers bike going three miles from our home to the beach when I was junior school age (that's between 7 and 11).
    My chldren ...[text shortened]... I rang her twice to remind her.

    I'm thinking, maybe 10 is a better age to let her go out.
    When I was a kid, we went out in the morning and came home for supper -- but that's when the world was a lot safer. There was no thought that someone would come by in a van and kidnap us. There were no pictures on milk cartons; just corny jokes. Scary time to be a parent, because you want your kids to have freedom and a comfort zone but you want them to be safe, too. Tough tight-rope to walk!
  6. Subscribersonhouse
    Fast and Curious
    slatington, pa, usa
    Joined
    28 Dec '04
    Moves
    53223
    08 Aug '10 19:02
    When I was 10 or 11, I used to ride my bike 5 or 6 miles to our local theater to watch movies or cartoons. I had a lot of freedom. Now, in the same town, El Monte in Los Angeles, I doubt kids are free to move about as I was when I was a kid.

    It's not the same world. Later we lived in Venice Beach California, and there were 3 murders within a year within a block of our house. One of our kids had a paper route, same as I had when I was a kid. Except now, I drove the kid around to drop off the papers. It got so bad in Venice Beach, police helicopters were flying over our house with their intense searchlights on, several times a week, one time a fugitive actually flew over our fence and was trapped a few doors down. We got tired of that and moved to Scottsdale Arizona, where we had a couple of years of peace. Then got transferred to Bethleham/Allentown Pa and have had problems with thieves and attacks on our kids. No indeed, it is not the same world.

    It's really a shame, financially we lost our butts, the house we lived in by Venice Beach just sold for 750,000 bucks. Sigh.
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