do you let your young kids go to neighbors' houses without you?

[steph410]

hi,
i am just wondering what others are like about this topic. would you let your 4.5 year old go to neighbors' houses without you? i'm talking about neighbors who you know and have talked to many times, but just are not good friends with and don't know A LOT about.

thanks!

[Fire In The Disco]

My daughter is only 4 months old, but I will reference my sister's kids, ages 5.5 and 7, here. They live on a cul-de-sac, and there are 3 other families with kids from 3-12 in the cul-de-sac. Generally what they do is have one parent chill outside with the various kids. They often take turns, and do it totally informally, there's no "set schedule" or anything. But there's always at least one parent outside. If the kids want to go to the neighbor's house, they ask their parents before going, but they do run over there by themselves, always on the sidewalk.

[Delaney]

Hmmm...that's hard. If they had kids of his age to play with then yes. I would walk him over for sure unless it was the very next house over and I was outside watching him. Did that help?

[Mommieof2]

NO!!!

My girls are 4 and 6. Their are 2 boys that live right next store with their grandparents. Both are my girls ages, one of them was in her kidergarden class. They can play outside in our backyards were I can see them with the boys but NOT in their home. There is also a 3 YO girl who likes to come over across the street and she has been in my home but my girls have never been in hers. I need to be over there with them for them to play in her backyard as I can not see them there.

[chloecat]

we live in a very very rural area and our next door neighbors--about an acre away-- have kids the same age as ours. our 6 year old boys have been playing together for 2 years now. thier child walks over to play at our house or my son goes to their house. i as a parent have only accompanied him once or twice in the very beginning.

i don't know if i'd feel the same way if i lived in a different area??

[MaxCapacity]

Originally Posted by Delaney Hmmm...that's hard. If they had kids of his age to play with then yes. I would walk him over for sure unless it was the very next house over and I was outside watching him. Did that help?

This. Also, I let them go with the mother or both parents are there, but not when it's just the dad. I don't know the dads as well & one of them seems quite reckless. But again, it's just the neighbors that have kids & with whom I've exchanged phone # & such, so I feel I know them pretty well, but we're not actually "friends".

[ktmelody]

At that age, no. I think around 7 is ok for us, thats when our older girls started playing in the neighbors houses. Until then, they played out front (supervised) or in our house.

That said, we do live in las vegas, we live in a safe area, gated etc. but you just never know in a town like this.

[wordmama]

My DS is nearly 4 and we let him play over at our next-door neighbour's house. We know the family quite well and they have very similar values and rules to us. I just make sure to go over with him to make sure that the mum is okay with him playing there and to reiterate that she can send him home at any time if he misbehaves. Her kids (nearly 2 and 5) play at/in our house all the time. We have sort of a relaxed toy share program going on! lol

[greenMImama]

nope.

My son does pay at our neighbors house but we have been friends for well over 10 years so we know them, and we built house by each other on purpose, one of her boys will come over here and play also, by themselves.

[madscientistsa]

My almost 5-year old walks to the very next door neighbor's house and plays with her little boy. We've talked a little, she comes over and chats once in a while, but I don't know her EXTREMELY well. I do trust her, though.