photos by PHOTOSPIN
Last night, a neighbor’s daughter knocked on our door. “Can she come out and play?” (I’m not sure she always remembers my daughter’s name). It was beautiful last night and both kids jumped at the chance.
“Go! Go!” Their dad said from the kitchen. So I grabbed my keys, my phone and headed outdoors. The park is just across the street from our house (I can see it from the upstairs window).
I only had a few minutes before I had to run an errand and I knew the kiddos would be disappointed (I had planned to take them with me). After they got settled playing, I walked back to the house to get ready for my errand.
“I need to go soon,” I told my husband. When I was ready I went to gather the kids and rebellion started. “NO! We want to play!”
I always feel my kids don’t get enough time outdoors. And on a rare, cool summertime evening, I didn’t want to take that away from them.
I suggested to my husband, “You know, they’d probably be find outside with their friend.”
But my husband disagreed and said he’d go out with the kids so they could stay and play.
No biggie, but it got me thinking. “Why can’t they be outside?” Ok, so maybe not the 3-year-old, but my son is nearly 6. I didn’t hesitate to run back to the house for a second, but would I be ok with them out there for, say 15-20 minutes?
I don’t know. Too many bells go off in my head. There is a street between our house and the park and quite frankly, the people in the neighborhood sometimes drive too fast.
And I don’t know all my neighbors. I mean, I know a lot of them. But the little girl they were playing with was outside by herself with no adult (I think she’s about 8 or 9).
A column ran in our paper this week by Rosa Brooks talked about this and about Free Range Kids, a Web site I’ve looked at often.
Read it. See how you feel.
And let me know what you’d do.
