When can they play outside alone?

[skatty]

Leorah is 2½ and wants to be in the garden as soon as she wakes! The other day I let her play there with our dog while I watched from the window and they had a great time chasing each other and then L played in her sandpit for 15 mins alone. My problem is that the garden is at the back of our house so the living room and kitchen look over the front so I have to go to the bedrooms to check on her. What age did you let your kids play oputside unsupervised in a safe garden?

[Deb_in_oz]

with alex probably 2ish in her sandpit but she was a rule follower and would not wander etc.  Liv on the other hand walked off across the street with a friend during alex's birthday party we had when she was 17 mo old and the house and yard were full of friends so she always had one of us around or alex at the very least LOL.

if the yard is fully fenced/gated and she is responsible i would be ok at her age with checking on her every 10-15 min and letting her know where i was if she needed me.

[KathrynK]

Sophie is also a rule follower and very cautious so she goes outside by herself- I can see her from the kitchen and conservatory so although I don't "watch" her constantly, I can keep an eye on her, and I leave the door open so she can come in and out if she needs to.
(although now she is terrified of a giant bumble bee which seems to have taken up residence in our garden so she's refusing to go outside  Seriously, it's freakishly big, I don't blame her  )

[Bryony]

Agree, I think it depends on your child...  Katie is also a "rule follower" and our back garden is completely enclosed so I let her play out there on her own - I can see her from our lounge window .... although it's rare that she's happy to play out there on her own, usually she wants me to come out too ... sigh!

[Bryony's mum]

Zach is just 2, and he goes out by himself.  The garden's enclosed, and I can see it from various rooms in the house.  Most commonly I'm in the kitchen with the door open so i can hear him running around and he'll run in to see what I'm doing from time to time.  He's not exactly the best rule-follower, but I have observed him in the garden a lot, so I know that the garden is pretty safe for him and what he is likely to do out there, and I also keep an eye on him. 

[Jaime]

as PPs mentioned, it depends on the child's personality & your comfort threshhold.  i still won't let mine out on their own as we have a swimming pool. 

but even if we didn't.... i'm not sure i'd feel comfortable letting them out there by themselves with a dog at any age.      another facet where you know your family best, though! 

[aisling]

Yup since DS was about 2. He was outside no word of exaggeration for almost 4 hours straight yesterday.  Even had his lunch outside DH said. (only 13C temp too) He HAS to exist outdoors, so I cannot be there all the time. He is very reasonable and likes to follow rules, so that helps.  We have a pool but it is in our ravine area of the garden and is fenced in with a lock.  The rest of our property is not fenced or gated. He often goes to his grandparents (2 doors down) and our next door neighbours (eldery avid gardener couple, like 2nd grandparents to him) the only rule is he has to walk across the front garden not the street and he HAS to tell me when he is going there and he has to tell them when he is retuning home. 

I keep the windows and our back door with screen open, so I can hear him from all parts of the house.  I often check him and usually say "You ok?"  We taught him last year he always has to answer when we call him no matter how busy he is, just a simple "I'm over here, or I am ok." he also cannot go to our neighbours when they are not out there or DH and I are not with him as they have a huge pond and that is a huge safety concern.

He is also not allowed to cross the street to visit friends and neighbours alone.  He can ride his trike anywhere on the property out back but not the driveway when alone in case someone pulls in and doesn't see him.  he can use the drive when I am out with him.

Does she have favourite things to do out there to stay busy? Nello usually digs, mud pies, builds radar stations (don't ask ) uses his sand box, diggers, tractors, slides, climbs, shoots hoops, rides his trike and car, plays with his bbq and as we speak he is using his toy chainsaw on some old tree stumps and piling the branches near our fire pit LOL!  Lots of things to keep him busy. So, set up clear rules, keep her busy and keep checking/visiting on her. 

HTH,

A x

[kim&savannah]

I agree that it does totally depend on the kid.  DD has never wandered, so I'd let her out in our fenced yard alone by 2.5 or so, as long as I still checked on her every few minutes or could hear here (she's a constant talker/singer so that makes it easy to know that she's still ok.)  DS, not the same at all.  I'd never let him out alone at this age (although our yard is also not fenced in this house, so its even more dangerous).  Luckily, because DD is so worried about the "rules" she will tell me if DS starts to wander at all, so I will let them out back together as long as I'm in that part of the house and she stays near him.  And I'm lucky that our kitchen faces the back so I can let them play while I make dinner. 

I think I would feel a little safer also if there was a dog--you know, just knowing that they'd bark if anyone showed up in the yard, and would probably discourage anyone from coming in anyway.

[skatty]

Thanks for all the responses, my little monkey isn't much of a rule follower but the garden is set up safely and my dog lies by the gate while she is out there keeping an eye on the street as they do! She loves to be outside and puts her boots on as soon as she gets up, doesn't care about the weather.

Aisling she has loads to do out there, she has a play house DH built, a sand pit, a water/sand table ,slide, swing, a trike, a bike, paint brushes with pots I fill with water so she can paint the gate/ fence and digging tools. She has finally stopped putting everything in her mouth but is fascinated with insects and bugs but now knows they taste disgusting  She also talks and sings non stop so if her bedroom window is open and I am in the living room without the radio on I could probably hear her most of the time. I guess I should give it a go, I just have to make sure that DH is diligent in putting his tools away, last summer he left a ladder out and I suddenly heard "mumma!" and she was right at the top waving!!

Kathryn the bees worry me for later in the year, Leorah has a fascination with them and I don't know if she "gets" that they sting, I have a bit of paranoia as DH's uncle dies of anaphylatic shock from bee stings  They are definitely getting freakishly big aren't they?

[Peek-a-boo]

if the yard is fully fenced/gated and she is responsible i would be ok at her age with checking on her every 10-15 min and letting her know where i was if she needed me.

Totally agree with this.  For me, it would depend a lot on the security of the fence/enclosure.  Ours is a six foot privacy fence with one gate that has a secure latch that is at the top of the gate (so 6 feet).  I feel good okay that there's no way DS could get out.

[linfran]

Again, agree that it depends on the temperament of the child - some kids are three going on sixty three and others wouldn't have the sense God gave a rabbit.

You can walk right round our house but we have a locked gate at the front and the back so it's secure the whole way round.  We let him out last summer (at age 2.5yo) but checked him every few minutes.  The problem we have is our garden is on three sides so you can't necessarily see him all the time.  We haven't been out much this year as we did a big clearout and there is a lot of rubbish by the back gate which we don't want him to mess with so once its gone over Easter then he'll be out more.

I guess its a case of checking the safety aspect of your garden - and don't forget, certain plants that look harmless (like daffodils) can be extremely dangerous (or even fatal) if eaten or others can cause scratches (we had beautiful roses in our garden before I got pg which I had planted and tended and they had to go!) or irritate the skin.  Some gardening websites offer advice about this (the RHS one could be worth trying).

[Sarah - Enfys' Mum]

I didn't know daffodils were poisonous!  I have loads in my garden
Our garden is fully fenced and I tie the gates closed and Enfys has been going out there alone since last summer.  Yes, just over a year old   She's a bit like Nello, cannot bear to be inside for any length of time.  I'll have to watch the daffodils though. 

[Bryony]

Yikes I didn't know about daffodils being poisonous either - we have millions of them....  don't think katie would eat anything from the garden though. She won't eat anything unless it's a chip, a crisp or chocolate these days 

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

We are building a 6 foot privacy fence this year and I was just pondering if Masyn was old enough to go out by herself....none of our main windows face the yard, but I think I will try her out for 10 mins or so to see what attracts her attention (not the best rule follower - she knows them, but breaks them) We are planning a separate kennel enclosure for the dog as he is over 100lbs and even though he is our big "baby" he is still an animal. I still want him out there to watch over her and bark if anyone comes in the yard, but not for them to play together unless I can be out there too. Now if only spring would come and thaw the ground so we can get the fence underway.....

Heidi

[Sarah - Enfys' Mum]

Bryony - I looked up daffodil poisoning.  They are poisonous, the bulbs more so than the stems or flowers.  They're alkaloids and the main symptom is vomiting, amongst other things.  One website I read said that the rapid severe vomiting usually prevents further poisoning.  Nice.  The main problem apparently is people mistaking the bulbs for onions.