How Old to Play Outside by Himself

AS LONG AS THE RULES ARE SET BEFORE HAND. HE SHOULD BE FINE. HERE IS A GOOD IDEA. WALKIE TALKIES AND A BABY MONITOR. THE BAby monitor to listen to him and a walkie TALKIES TO TALK WITH HIM.

My kids 4 and 5 play outside by themselves when the weather is nice enough for the windows to be open. I'm lucky though as I have a laptop and I can move my work to be near the patio door and supervise. We did make sure to set up a play area and make some rules. A sandbox has been our saving. The kids rarely stray from it especially if we add a bucket of water nearby. We also have 2 big dogs so I know that if anyone were to come even outside the fence they would alarm me. Once when my kids were playing out front and I had gone in to use the bathroom and left my older 13 year old son out with the littles, a strange dog came racing toward my daughter intent on attacking her and our dogs pinned it down to prevent it from getting to her. So I know my kids will be safe if the dogs are with them.

I should add that when I was 4 we lived on 150 acre ranch and I would walk to my grandma's house every day during my sister's nap, alone. We lived on one outside edge and grandma lived on the other outside edge. I walked through all our cows and horses, the woods, and never once got lost or hurt so it's really quite different living in a rural area from a city.

Hi K..

Have you considered taking a laptop outside with you so you can work and keep an eye on him?

My daughter is is about to turn 3 and we have 4 acres and a fenced in inner yard. There is still no way I would let her play outside by herself. I'm originally from the city so, I am extremely cautious and, even though this isn't the city, there are bad people everywhere. Not to mention the wildlife. I would say probably 8 or 9 before letting him out by himself.

Hi K., with him having a whole acre to play on that can be scary. I lived in the mountains on 8 acres when my kids were little. My son was five and I though he was old enough so I let him out. I was searching for him for a while to make a long story short. Anyway after that we just fenced off a area of the back yard where he was told to stay in. Now if your acre is fenced I say let him out kids need the fresh air.
T.

Depending upon his maturity/responsibility level, 4 may be old enough to play outside alone. One thing I would be concerned about is mountain lions-- do you have as many in UT as we have in CO?
An idea may be to have "recess" time during the day (say, 15 minutes every couple of hours) where you go out with him. The microwave timer might help with scheduling, and give him something to look forward to. You could also have lunch outside every day, picnic style (I'm not sure how this fits in with your baby's schedule).
Best wishes!

I have a 10 year old Mother's helper that comes over a few hours a week, and that really helps me feel comfortable--with having her and my almost three year old play outside together. And, I only have to pay her $2.50/hour--and she is thrilled with that amount!

I would think a fenced area would be important, or a small play area that he had to stay in, that could also be seen from your work area. I let my almost 3 year old play outside in the back yard, with the dog if I am working in the kitchen, because I can see her from the window! And, I have the window open so that I can hear her as well. It is usually for 15-20 minutes at a time only.

It is hard to know how to handle these things! Good luck!

Okay, this may sound a little paranoid, but you have no idea who is driving by your house....I would fence off a small section near the side of the house that your office is on....Due to other people more than your son himself. Also then you can check the area for rattlers before play easily. This summer I would think about hiring a teenager to take both the kids outside for a couple of hours a few times a week.

R.

I would see if I could find a window or place where you can look out and see what he is doing. When you are out in the mountains there are animal concerns of snakes, spiders and cyotes that are verry interesting to little boys. Playing outside should be like playing in his room, even if he is by himself he should be able to be heard and you sould be able to peek out a window every few minutes to make sure he is OK. A fenced area would be a must I would think.

My neighbor's boy played outside by himself starting at 2. They have a tiny front yard. It is NOT fenced off. He's just a really good kid.

My daughter played outside in a partially fenced off yard since she was 3. But she is very LOUD when she plays. She's always announcing things to the trees or yelling at the wind. I found I was comfortable because I could always hear her. If she was quiet more than 5 minutes, I'd check on her. She had strict instructions to tell me which part of the yard she was playing in. Also, she could not go to the neighbor's house without asking me for permission first.

With my boy, I watched him from the porch without talking to him much at all - wanting to see what he'd do if I wasn't there. You might try spying on him. Boys like to get into everything. You'll feel more comfortable if he's fenced in. If it were me, I'd practice having him holler to me...and come running to the house when I blew a whistle or rang a bell or hit a gong. That's better than frantically searching.

It depends on your kid, but I could see him being OK with limited (but not zero) supervision.

As a mom of 4, I'm constantly paranoid, but living in the real world too. I say yes to being able to use a window to listen to him if he's confined to a fenced space, but be very strict when he goes too far (tough consequenses) so that he knows you mean business about what he can and can't do.

I think probably visually checking on him every 10 minutes would be the max amount of time I would go, and only that long if you know that he's involved with something that he usually spends a great deal of time doing - like the sand box or something like that... (and I'd use a timer to keep track, so YOU don't lose track of time). He's still young enough and curious that if he got distracted by something, he could be gone a terribly far distance in 10 minutes!... too far to be able to just call to him or visually find him easily and know that he's okay.

Another thought as he gets bigger, boys love, love, love walkie talkies. You could check in with him ever couple minutes (even if you can see him through your window) and ask him what he's doing?!?!

Or you could invest in some outdoor cameras and do-it-yourself video cam system so that you could monitor him via computer when you're working, that way he could be out there for a bit longer... but still, he needs to learn how important it is that he has verbal contact with his mother every so often when you are not together. It's important! Even with the cameras, I would still physically check on him just as often and verbally check base with him!

I would recommend 2, 20 min fresh air play times a day when you are working at home, for him to be outside( for your daughter too) that you can be out with him. I have a 3 year old ,almost 4 who would love to be outside by himself but there is NO way that I would let him. They are just too curious. Not that they want to get into trouble but sometimes it just finds them. Its far to easy for something to happen to them and then you would never forgive yourself because it was preventable. If you had a play yard that was fenced and that had safe toys in it and was with in earshot of where you work I would think that would be fine but otherwise, just stick to daycare standard time and bring them out for recess. Its not worth the risk. Just my opinion, take it or leave it.

my daughter has been allowed to play outside by herself since she was 3. She knows to stay out of the street, she knows that she can't go any farther than the stop sign at the end of the road, and she also knows that I will check on her to make sure she is ok, and that seh is following the rules. You do have to check often, so if there is a part of your yard that is easily seen from where you work, make that the area that he has to stay

My son plays outside by himself, or with his friends. He is 5 now, but has played outside since 4. At first I only let him play in the backyard and I would open my windows so that I could hear him. Then once he got a neighborhood friend I let him play out front. He has to come in and ask me if he can do anything different. If he is riding his bike and his friend wants to go into her backyard and play then he has to come in and ask me if he can do that. Etc. Just make sure that you are able to hear him and make a point to go check on him every few minutes.

Four is way too young, they still wonder off and get in to things. I'd say maybe 8 or 9 where you are, in a less populated area so you would here a car or anything like that. If you are working at home he should be at day care, you are working, you can't do two thing's at once. I know it is an expense but once again, you are working. Even if he goes for at least 5 hours a day he would get to play and go outside.

I think that you need to consider the mountain lion situation. Most mountain parents I know still supervise their school age kids because of cats...