I was collecting my six year old from Beaver Scouts last night and let her play in the park after

She then shouted over to say a friend wanted to meet the dog, came over and had a stroke and he was a boy from the year above her at school (6/7yr)

There was three older children who knew him, but with in a minute they was heading off without him, I heard him say to them he was locked out and possibly his mum and dad had popped out, as I'm sure he said his parents car was back outside

So there was me, my daughter and the boy. I asked were his parents were and he told me he was locked out, about 15 mins later he said he was off home, I hopped in my car and headed off to the road he lives in, but as he approached he street he started to scoot off (across road without looking) and I shouted to see were he was going, to which he replied to a friend

I asked him to go see if his parents were home, which he did, but when he got to the house he went on about their car not been there and they must have gone out again

He tried the door and went inside so at the minimum the house was unlocked, but no sign of parents to see from the road

This was now 8pm in the evening and he seemed to act like it was a regular occurrence

Local thoughts are social services might already be involved and the parents might have a 'using habit' which you don't do in front of your kids

Would you let a 6/7yr old out and would you take this further? Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Personally I do think it is too young to be out on there own, even where we now live but coming from Leeds there were always kids younger than ours 9 & 7 at the time that were let out on their own crossing a really busy road and being in a park with known ASBO type behaviour going on.

So whilst I wouldn't want the child to come to any harm maybe it is normal (!!! !!!) behaviour just not our normal. Current 2008 Freel2 HSE
Prev 2010 Freel2 GS & 57 Disco3 HSE

One child in our village simply played on the street and wandered all over, as soon as he could crawl/walk. much to the consternation of everyone except the parents.
He a teenager know so never leaves the house glues to his video games  At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

I have had a chat with the schools head teacher, who will be putting in to action their child safety protocol

End of the day, his 6 years old, crossing a main access road which is always packed with cars, on a scooter at full blast, having to go down 3 roads to get home 350meters away (google maps distance) and his mum and dad had locked him out, and he wasn't sure if they was home, but the car had come back last time he had checked, but when we got there he thrown his scooter down shouted they gone out again

then chatted to (me) a bloke who he had never ever met (who was with his daughter who knew him)

so many signs of putting their son in harms way so they can allegedly do their drugs in piece

Hopefully they won't do it again once the school has chatted to them, but i doubt it will make any difference

But i have done my bit to help his welfare Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

I think that people are over protective and listen too many media scare stories about paedophiles and stranger danger. I read somewhere that roughly the same number of kids have gone missing/get murdered etc every year since the war but peoples' perceptions are that things are getting worse. Schools are now like fortresses with security gates but this is about being seen to do the right thing.

My wife used to be in Social Work/Probation and says that the biggest danger to kids is actually from people that they know at home. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

so you would let a six year old roam the streets? Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Depends on how good their traffic sense was. When I was 6 I used to walk to school by myself about a mile away in a town, OK traffic was quieter then but from about 7/8 onwards I used to go on the (public) bus to school, pay my fare and cross town to get to school. No one thought that was a big deal then. I now live in a small village and my kids used to have the freedom to go by themselves anywhere including along the cliff paths but to keep off the main road as they weren't that streetwise.
I appreciate your concerns about the situation you found yourself in and I would probably think and do the same but generally I believe that we are being too protective these days. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

It is accepted that children cannot accurately judge speed and distance of traffic until at least 10. Food for thought.

i would agree there, my lads always been quite savvy when crossing roads etc, but his 9.5 at the moment and he is coming on and more mature as the days go by and i'm noticing he getting more concerned with hurting himself etc Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

I wouldn't let a 6 year old wander the streets, though more kids come to harm in a family members care than a stranger.

In my day job as a bus driver, it's ever increasing that the parents put them on the bus, the driver is then expected to babysit but no one is there to pick them up at the other end. 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

Good work npinks, nice to see someone doing the right thing. This is exactly the type of incident that requires safeguarding measures to be put in place. according to my sons school Childrens brains are incapable of road sense up to the age of 7. There is also a reason why the age of criminal responsibility is 10+, as below that age children dont think before they act, some kids are more savvy than others but a 6 year old crossing roads alone, His parents clearly need guidance or intervention, may be a one off or could be something serious going on.

If I may chime in (having 2 sons at 4.5 and 7).

I think there's 4 factors

a) age, obviously (10+?)
b) when you can start trusting them to do the right thing
c) when they're confident enough
d) the kind of area/communidy one lives in (inner city estate or small village? )

I think there were less cars/lorries on the roads 30-40 years ago and there was more of a community feel (Oh look it's Mrs Jones' son)

My 2 pence anyway...

I agree that there is a huge risk of society being overprotective. When I used to teach first year university students a topic we covered was responsibility and it was shocking to hear some of them admit that they were not confident crossing a road without assistance. Future Captains of Industry, anyone? Everyone can spread it - Anyone can catch it. Stay home - the life you save can be your own!

there is been over protective, but at 6 years old running the around the street on his own is too young in my opinion, we have low to none, instances of children involved crime like abduction etc, but we have had kids been knocked down and killed just playing out and runnign out for a ball etc

I honestly cant remember what age i was allowed to walk the streets alone, but it wasn't 6

its a shame as he seems a really nice lad (though a little rough round the edges) with loads of confidence, or could that be ignorance to dangers Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

There's a good article (quite lengthy) on Atlantic about this trend towards overprotection. An interesting read.

"A preoccupation with safety has stripped childhood of independence, risk taking, and discovery—without making it safer. A new kind of playground points to a better solution."
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archiv...ne/358631/

Particularly Hart's research (about 2/3 down the article) is interesting. He conducted a lengthy study (2 years) observing child's play in the early 1970s, then returned ~30 years later. The differences were stark despite no observable change in threat.

Quote:

"Among this new set of kids, the free range is fairly limited. They don’t roam all that far from home, and they don’t seem to want to. Hart talked with a law-enforcement officer in the area, who said that there weren’t all that many transients and that over the years, crime has stayed pretty steady—steadily low. “There’s a fear” among the parents, Hart told me, “an exaggeration of the dangers, a loss of trust that isn’t totally clearly explainable.”