An irreverent, inclusive, alternative parenting community
What say you Offsprung?
So I read this article about leaving your kids unsupervised.
My answer is yes, there are times when it is safe to leave your kids alone.
Outside our the front door of our apartment is a grassed courtyard. We allow both 1st and 2nd kid to play out there. If you look out our bedroom window you see the entire space. We allow 1st kid to play completely unsupervised but if 2nd kid is out with him we keep an eye on her from the bedroom window. 2nd kid is not allowed to play outside alone. House rule states that when we look out that window we must be able to see you. If we cannot see you that means you are outside of the designated play area and thus grounded for X days from playing outside.
One of my co-workers when were all chatting about kids looked at me like I'd said I let them run across the highway when I said they play outside and we're inside. She said, "*gasp* but you live in an apartment complex and you never know what kind people are living in apartments". To which I replied "I am people living in apartments and my best friend lives down the sidewalk from us."
I think everyone has really gone overkill on the Stranger Danger! I have known many people who were abused and/or molested as children . Not one of them had it done by a stranger. It was always family or someone close to their family.
My answer is yes, there are times when it is safe to leave your kids alone.
Outside our the front door of our apartment is a grassed courtyard. We allow both 1st and 2nd kid to play out there. If you look out our bedroom window you see the entire space. We allow 1st kid to play completely unsupervised but if 2nd kid is out with him we keep an eye on her from the bedroom window. 2nd kid is not allowed to play outside alone. House rule states that when we look out that window we must be able to see you. If we cannot see you that means you are outside of the designated play area and thus grounded for X days from playing outside.
One of my co-workers when were all chatting about kids looked at me like I'd said I let them run across the highway when I said they play outside and we're inside. She said, "*gasp* but you live in an apartment complex and you never know what kind people are living in apartments". To which I replied "I am people living in apartments and my best friend lives down the sidewalk from us."
I think everyone has really gone overkill on the Stranger Danger! I have known many people who were abused and/or molested as children . Not one of them had it done by a stranger. It was always family or someone close to their family.
Tags: over-parenting, stranger danger
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by jenra on -
Yes, there are safe times and places to leave your kids alone. It's how you build a foundation to self sufficiency. Obviously you don't want to endanger them but it sounds like the layout of your complex is perfect.
-
Permalink Reply by jenra on
-
I do this as well. For the last few years The Miniature has taken to pointing them out to me! He notices the shirt color and looks for name tags. Barring that, he's been taught to look for a mom or dad with kids and tell them he's lost but don't go anywhere with them and try to make other strangers see and hear that he's lost until someone with a uniform and name tag somes to help.
Kiwi said:I'm a big fan of pointing out what employees dress like in places where most are in uniform and the kids could get lost in a crowd (museum, zoo, and so on). We let them know that if we get separated that is who they need to find and talk to if they don't see us.
wookie said:Regarding getting lost in a department store: Do you guys think we teach our kids how to get un-lost anymore? Retracing your steps, who to ask for help, looking for landmarks, that kind of thing? I was taught those things by an aunt at a large amusement park, but I don't know that I've ever thought to teach my own kids that.
-
Permalink Reply by Joe Mama on -
My kids are older, but I found dog-walking to be a great gate-way alone time task. #1 son was 6 or 7 and had the job to walk the dog on the leash (and clean the poop...ALL the poop) around the small townhouse complex we lived in every day while I got his younger brother ready to go. One well trained 70 pound dog gave me the comfort to let him go. He didn't go far but he OWNED that little neighborhood and felt perfectly safe.
-
Permalink Reply by SweetJudyB on -
Our back yard is fairly fenced in, except for the driveway. We never even play around the driveway entrance, just to make sure E isn't tempted to toddle down it to the road (I did buy a net/gate to string across it if I'm in the way back yard and can't see the driveway). Plus our road is busy and fast, so that's the #1 thing that I'm worried about at this age.
I would almost never ask a "stranger" to keep an eye on E while I went to do something quick, seems rude and burdens them with too much responsibility.
I do remember the horrified look on my husband's face when I told him I left E in his bucket car seat, in the car, while I dropped off some mail at the post office. He never had run errands alone with the kid, so I said he'd soon find out what a pain in the rear it is to haul that car seat in and out just for a task <1 minute.
In the end I think it may just depend on the kid, the situation, and the parent. It is sad to think of all the freedom I had growing up probably won't be available to E just because of the real AND imagined dangers out there. I'm not big on kid-leashes, but could see crowded situations where they make sense- where writing your phone # on your kid in marker also makes sense.
-
Permalink Reply by Herasmus B. Dragon on
-
Me, too. I did that on Ebay's arm once because she was getting the hang of walking so she didn't want to be in the stroller, but we were at a museum and I was afraid she'd wander off.
Mamawho said:When she was younger, I actually wrote my cell number on her arm in marker.
-
Permalink Reply by YoYoWannaBe on -
I may trust my friends, but that doesn't mean I trust my friend's friends. An apartment simply has more unknown people hanging around, and the risk increases as the square of the number of people living there. An apartment complex of 100 units is more than 4 times riskier than one of 25 units.
It also seems to help to have fewer people spread over more buildings than have everybody in the same building.
But I agree with you about the stranger danger; overall you make a good point . I think homeowners have an overarching and arrogant sense of their own superiority that kind of grates on me. That said, I'm not moving to NE Philly and becoming a tenant just to make good on my argument.
Oh, I'm just becoming a tired old crank. I'm sad bout a whole bunch of stuff. Just ignore me. Thanks for letting me.
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- Next ›
© 2012 Created by Offsprunger.
Powered by 
.
