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Happy Monday everyone! I am slightly embarrassed to admit it, but I am addicted to watching Bubble Wrap Kids.....it just makes me laugh so much at crazy people!!! It did make me think of a question I would like to ask sane people! At what age do you allow your own children ( I don't mean the kids while working obviously) to play in the backyard alone??? Also, when do you consider a child too old for a stroller? Thanks ladies!
I know in our family we were allowed to be outside VERY young ... heck my mother put me on the deck when I was 6 weeks old ALONE and went about her errands ;)
With our generation we have tended to be a little more 'cautious' and allow our kids, my nieces and nephews to be out in the fenced yard 'alone' around 2 years of age ... however most of us have had a huge bay window and the patio window there was not a section of the yard that could not be supervised from within the kitchen if you were working or dining room table if you were chatting with family and they were not alone there with siblings or cousins of varied ages as well ;)
My daycare kids who are over 2 and have shown they are 'capable children' are allowed to be out on the deck during the summer months engaged in play while I prepare any picnic lunches quickly but my deck is visible from the kitchen and only 10 feet away and my clients are all comfortable with this practice - I typically either sit the babe in the high chairs inside while prep and than carry it back 'out' for picnic lunch.
I start training daycare children to WALK instead of riding at 18 months of age because by the time they turn 2 they generally about to loose their spot in the stroller to a new babe joining the program and have to have built up some leg muscles for distance walking cause they cannot go back 'in' if it is now full ;)
I've only seen the show once, but it was pretty funny. Parents have been scared silly by media and it is so hard these days for any of us to know where to draw the line when it comes to safety. My own little ones are 22 months and 3 1/2 and they have occasionally played out in the yard alone where we can see them from the window. However, we have a huge yard that wraps all around the house, so it will be awhile before they are allowed free reign of the whole yard when alone as we can't see them if they go around the corner. As for the stroller, personally my kids stopped riding in the stroller around the age of 2, but definitely by 3 I think they are too old for it.
I've started giving my 7 yrs old a lot more freedom than she has before. She's mature and very capable and understands about boundaries and speaking with strangers. For example, she does play outside completely alone or with friends, she is also able to cross our road to get into our van (we park it across the road during the day, residential area) on her own, and while we're out at the store she is able to leave me to go to another section (relatively close by) to look at what she would like to, as long as she lets me know. My rule is that it's ok to talk to strangers but it is absolutely not ok to go anywhere with a stranger. There are millions more nice people in this world than not nice, so if someone says "hello, how are you" I think it's ok for her to answer politely.
Has anyone seen that scary but awesome video of the 7 yrs old girl in walmart where a man attempted to abduct her? She fought and FOUGHT and he very quickly gave up and ran off (to be later caught by police). I showed this to my daughter and told her to do exactly this. FIGHT and SCREAM if anyone ever tries to take you anywhere.
As for my daycare kids (ages 19 months, 21 months, 3, 3 and 5), I do allow them to go outside as they are ready, and if it gets close to lunch time I do leave them outside while I begin to prepare (fenced in play yard, and I leave the door open with screen closed so I can hear them) their meals.
oooo! I just thought of another "independence building" thing I do. When we walk to the park and need to cross the street I let the KIDS tell me when it's safe to go. This way when the time comes to do it on their own, they'll have experience under their belts!
I was having corner issues too. When we put in the new fence I had a gate put at both ends of the house so the corner is now gated off from house to fence stopping them from going down there unless they are with an adult. The gas meter, air conditioner, etc is on that side so keeps them away from those.