Would You Leave Your Kids At The Park Alone?

I don't have any children but I was babysitting a friend's children today and I took them too the park. They are 9 and 7 and I was terrified to leave them alone at the park which is in my apartment complex. When we got to the park there were 2 little girls there and NO supervision. The girls were 6 and 4.

It only takes one time to turn your back. Why would you risk the most valuable relationship in your life to a statistic that says it's "rare". They might as well call it "give up being a parent day" or "stop being responsible day". Unbelievable.

I would never leave my child alone in a park. Your just asking for them to get kidnapped, I grew up in a small town with 850 people in the town we knew eneryone, where they lived, everything, but u never knew who would come driving through town one day. The ones that say they dont have children and would let their kids walk alone or go to the park alone I have to children, aparently they dont know the feeling of their child being missing its the worst feeling. If u had kids u would feel differently. Its not enabling children its protecting our children we brought into this world from harm that is our job as a parent and spend time with our child when they are at the park. they grow so fast enjoy playing with them.

No! Not in a million years. Our parks are filled with predators out there just waiting to find a victim. Could be a pervert, a drug dealer, a kidnapper who knows. When I was a kid it was a different world out there. No child should be left alone these days. If you love your child you will protect them not leave them for some weirdo the do with them as they wish. Remember today is not the same as it was yesterday. Don't be a fool and risk your kids trying to be cool.

If I had a child, I would let them play at the park alone if they were mature enough. I'm only 32, so I'm not that far removed from what it is like to be a kid. I would even make them walk to school. I find it so sad that parents are enabling children to be helpless and we wonder why they do not have common sense about real world situations. I walked to the bus stop and/or school from kindergarten all the way until I graduated high school. I would go to the different parks with my brother or alone, we even went down to the river to explore and swim during the summer. Practice the buddy-system. Are we that paranoid that every male is a pedophile? And every woman secretly wants to cut out babies from pregnant women because it's on the news? That's like saying if I ever drive, I will die by a drunk driver. Seriously.

I agree with everyone else...leaving a child alone in a park at the age of 7 is insane!! Even 9 or 10 is crazy. My kids are my world. Although I let them play with the other kids and have fun while my hubby and I enjoy watching. My hubby also pointed out how crazy it would be to nationally declare this day for all the perverts out there to know that on May 22 all the kids would be unsupervised. I really hope this woman does not have kids.

I would have never left my kids at a park alone. I even have a park that is visible from my back yard. Not just no, but NO! I would not consider this for multiple reasons. 1. Safety from predators - it may be rare, but I am not going to take that chance 2. My child has a serious health issue (brain cancer/seizures). What if something happened and I was not around? Am I supposed to rely on a total stranger to call 911? That does not seem fair to put someone in that position without fair warning. I don't think that I am over protective. I would say that I utilize my common sense!

If i would take my kids to the park and 'leave' them i would still have to watch from afar,and not let them know that i was there.

I just couldn't do it! My kids would walk off! I just don't think I could live with myself. This is a great concept but I think it needs to be done in a more controlled setting- not a public place where Joe the child stealer could be...

Not in today's world . It just is not safe . If anything ever happened to my children I would never be able to forgive myself. There are pedofiles just waiting at parks to snatch kids up and that's why I take my child with me when I go to the Bathroom and stand outside the door when he is in there.

I agree with everyone on here. Yes when i was 5 or 6 i would take off riding my bike alone or with friends and my mom would just say be careful but thats a different time and now you have child preditors and kidnappings and kids shooting kids and so on so fourth any parent who would put their kids in harms way "to teach responsibility" needs to learn some for them self i am sorry but comming from someone who has lost a child there is no greater pain but think if you went to that park to get them and they where not there then how responsible would you feel?????

I see children alone at our area parks all the time. I also watch the activities they are engaging in and listen to the excessive amount of swearing coming out of their mouths. I have recently had to step in and ask a group of 9 year old children to watch their language. Given the examples of children left alone that I am seeing, I can't endorse the practice.

Children "do not have as much freedom as they used to" because the world is a different place than it used to be. My child's safety is my number one concern, and when my child is old enough to safely maintain their freedom, I will be more than happy to give it.

I would never leave my children alone at a park or even more anywhere. There is more to consider than just kidnapping.

I myself would never leave my child(ren) alone at any park. Times have changed and sad to say you can not trust ANYONE... Just think about all that you hear now a days in the safest places bad things happen. Just think twice before you choose to leave your child alone anywhere.