nicole is 5 and is allowed to play out by herself. There are loads of kids where i live and most of them are only allowed to play in our street. Mind you most of the time nicole is only at the little boys house at the bottom of our terrace (3 doors down), they run along the back lane between each others gardens.

I think it all depends on your child. Dose he folow rules, have good road awareness and stranger danger? I personaly think the longer you dont let your child out on their own it causes more problems for them when they are older with regards to confidance when away from their parents. I have a friend who is 20 and still lives at home. She lives a 15 min walk away from me and the walk is along a main road and she is not allowed to walk back from mine after half 9! shes 20 ffs! As a result she wont go on holiday with friends because shes not confidant enough to be without her parents. She wont go out clubbing futher than the next town as she is to scared.

Ok i know the examples iv gave are a bit on the extream point but i think you get the idea im trying to put across, as much as i know you are trying to protect your son sometimes protecting them to much can do more harm than good. Why not let him go out for half an hour before tea and the day he comes home late hes not alowed back out and then after a while up it to 45 mins and so on.

Such a scary decision to have to make, I'm glad I won't be making it for a while!

I grew up in the middle of the country so there were no other kids around. We were lucky to have a long garden to play in. From the age of about 10+ I could walk across the fields to the village with my sisters or friends. Not by myself until I was about 13.

I never grew up in a village or town so don't know how I'll feel about kids going out to play. Think I will still be very protective. We'll be moving back to France soon and then maybe back into Switzerland, I feel safer there. When I was an au pair my 5 year old went down to the end of the street to meet her friend and I didn't worry.

My daughter is six and i don't even let her in the garden alone, my friends have told me i'm too overprotective though. If she's in the garden i'll sit outside with her too and read while she's playing or i'll join in with her

I was allowed out on the street at age 5 when I was together with my older sibs. Other wise I think i was 7 .School starting age. But I also have to say that lived in avillage on the edge of Hamburg so there wasn't anything bad around.

I think it depends on the child and the area ...Jake was 6 and allowed on the street only we moved when he was 10 and he was allowed anywhere in the village as long as i know where and he as his phone ....yet katie 9 isnt allowed further then the park down the street as she isnt mature as jake was at that age

My eldest is 11 and he does not go out on his own at all, but i think that is partly because he does not understand or aware off danger, plus he is ADHD and ASD