Tuesday 24 July 2012

On being a worry wart...

Yesterday Ebi-kun and I looked at our schedule and worked out the best time to do homework, my work and when to play, when to do housework and when to do projects. I think whilst the holidays are on we will do this every morning. I have my work related items already in google cal so we just added his homework and play date arrangements then we both can see what we have to do and when. Worked pretty well yesterday, let's see how the rest of the week goes.

So, yesterday he had already arranged a play date with his new best friend S-kun. They arranged to meet in the little park down the road. I feel that at 6 almost 7 Ebi-kun is not old enough to be wandering the streets alone so I go down to the park with him, I took some work and sat on the bench out of the way. All was well for 30 minutes or so but then S-kun was fed up of some of the other boys and just ran off, the other boys chased him, one ran straight into the road when a car had to slam it's brakes on to miss him - the boys, clueless. The mom's? out of the 5 boys there were 2 moms in the park but they were with the little siblings and didn't bat an eye at the car incident. Ebi-kun had stayed in the park but wanted to play with S-kun, who came back about 10 mints later. So I laid down the law, they could play in the park or at one of the houses but I wasn't having Ebi-kun running round the streets. The boys decided to play at S-kun's house and the incident was over.

I am fine with Ebi-kun playing on the street our house is on or playing down the road with other friends, the tendency is to play in front of one of the kids houses but playing at the park and running round the streets without adult supervision I am really not comfortable with but it seems like once the kids get into first grade they are allowed to run wild.

Now I'm not sure if I am being over protective and a worry wart or it is one of those Japanese things I have yet to get my head around. What is it like where you like? Do first graders get to wander the streets unsupervised?

8 comments:

  1. Yes they do!! I am a lot like you though, my eight year old hasn't even been allowed to ride his bike around the block without me yet. I rather be a worry wart than a wart sitting in a hospital room if I am lucky.Thank you for sharing.

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    1. there is NO way he is going out on his bike by himself yet because I know he what he is like when he is riding it, he nearly knocked me off my bike a few weeks back because he wasn't paying attention!

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  2. This is the fourth summer that the neighbor girl who lives behind us has been wandering around the neighborhood and playing in our yard. She is 7! It can be frustrating for DD (who will be 5 soon) to see how far this other girl gets to roam without adult supervision. Luckily, the 10 year old girl next door has parents with similar roaming policies as me. Being the oldest, the girls fall in line with her and seem content to stay in our yards. It helps that I keep popsicles and cookies on hand to feed the hungry hordes!

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    1. maybe that is how I keep them in check! feed them goodies lol. yesterday he chose to play with the kid next door so I could actually get some work done without worrying.

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  3. You would be frowned on in England I think ... I don't let my ten year old go to the park on her own ... rather be safe thab sorry... not worried about stranger danger more roads ... maybe when she starts secondary school (in one years time)

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    1. exactly! I'm not sure if it is my Englishness that makes me doubt the situation but after seeing the boys just running into the streets without a care in the world it certainly made me put my foot down.

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  4. In our neighborhood, the typical age is seven but even then they stay within five blocks. In other areas of our town it can be different; where my Mother-in-law lives, it is the same as you and all the kids no matter their age play together. My personal opinion is you need to gauge it on your kid if they are mature enough to do the right thing if something happened and also on how safe your neighborhood is. It sure is stressful raising a kid!

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    1. stressful - you are right there!
      on his own I think he is pretty sensible but out there with the other boys, who knows what might happen!

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