If your kids are outside playing, how often do you???

I was lucky. The next-door neighbor was a helicopter parent and every time the kids were outside she would sit outside with them!

I will check about every 10 minutes, too.

No yard AND busy street?  10 and 6 years old?  Sorry, I'd be out there with them. Period.

Of course, I live in an area where two turns from my neighborhood leads to a main county road, four turns to I5. If someone grabbed one of my kids and took off they'd be gone and possibly untraceable in less than two minutes.

That's something to ask yourself; how easy would it be for someone to grab your kid and disappear without a trace?

I would say I checked on all the kids every thirty minutes, other moms did too.

I live right around the corner from a busy street and no fenced yard. Our lot is very private but I keep them within eye sight. Thankfully we have a large wall of windows looking into the yard. I too like them to have their independence and carefree play but they are still too young to be without constant eyes. My oldest is 8 and sometimes I'll let her take them into the side yard but that's it.

No fence an busy street? I'd probably let the 10 year old have more freedom, but I'd still be outside with the 6 year old. Unless the 10 year old is very responsible and would watch the 6 year old. But I'd only do that for 10-15 minutes at a time.

When my kids were 6 and under, we lived overseas on a military base. It was right after 9-11 and security was tight. I'd let the 6 year old ride his bike around the apartment with the other 6s, but he had to yell up to me as he passed by our balcony. I'd leave the door open and listen for him. DD was 4 when we moved away and there was always an adult outside when the 4s were playing. When DS was 5, he could play in the courtyard and I would leave the door open to listen.

After that, it was Vegas (5 & 7 years). I would only allow them to play in the fenced and locked back yard when I wasn't outside. And we had a golden lab who would be out there with them. We lived in a nice area, but it was Vegas. Then it was Alabama and a small town. (6 & 8 years). They could play in the yard without me outside, but the 8 year old was allowed to walk down about 2 blocks to a friend's house. The mom would call when he got there and when he left. Then it was northern Virginia (7-10 years and 9-12 years.) We were in an isolated area and they could play in the unfenced yard all they wanted. DS could walk about a half mile down the hill to a friend's house and would call when he got there and when he left. DD could if she was with DS. Then in Boston (10-12 and 12-14), we lived in a quiet little suburb of Boston, in a little neighborhood surrounded by huge estates. The police would drive through the area after school and the neighborhood was pretty tight. I let both kids roam the neighborhood at will, as long as they were with a friend. They played in the creek a lot and would ride bikes and play on our trampoline and a neighbor's rope swing. They were not allowed in the pool unless I knew about it and there was an adult present.

The rules would depend on the neighborhood and how responsible the kids were. DS has Asperger's and had a lot of problems with impulse control. So even though they are 2 years apart, I pretty much had the same rules for both kids. I did spend a lot of time outdoors with the kids when they were younger. Not necessarily "watching" them, but gardening, pulling weeds, sorting mail, cleaning out the garden shed, etc. And we had a big golden lab who was as gentle as a pussy cat, but I know was big enough to be a deterrent if someone was thinking about messing with them.

This is how I grew up.  In the woods, no neighbors and no worries about being kidnapped.  The only real thing to be concerned with (in Northern Idaho) was cougars and bears and the odd skunk milling about.  Wish I could have lived somewhere like that for my kids.

My kids come back inside more often than I can go out to check on them. The constant in and out drives me crazy - "Close the door!" We live on 1.5 acres at the end of a cul de sac though - I don't worry about them out there. The aren't allowed to leave the yard or ride their bikes out into the street and they have followed those rules. We have a really long driveway that they rides their bikes up and down. If they want to go farther, then they have to have someone watching them.

I guess one of the benefits of having two boys close in age is that you can hear them. They played outside almost every day after school and all summer long. I didn't want my feelings of fear to ever creep into their childhood. We often talked about stranger danger and they knew what to do in an emergency, but they were pretty free to be outside playing sports or some game. If I didn't hear them after 15-20 minutes or so I would go looking for them though. Thankfully they were always there.

Lol. My dd (now almost-20) has a friend her age who lives across the street. This friend has two younger sisters, one now 17, and one 14. So when dd in preschool and in lower elementary this friend's sisters were still too little to play outside by themselves. So their mom and I would sit in lawn chairs (picture Kate Gosslein, if you ever watched that show, lol), drink a beer or two, and chat while the kids played in the driveway and front yard of her house (her driveway was flatter and a lighter color than mine, so it was better for sidewalk chalk). Directly across the street from her was a family also with two young girls, but that mom seemed to think that her little princesses were too good for the rest of us neighborhood kids. She sent her girls to a private school, not specifically because she felt that school was better for them but because she didn't think the neighborhood school would "challenge my girls because they're very bright". And yes she actually said that to my friend.   (and the school was, and still is, excellent)

Anyway, we used to sit across from that woman's house with our beer, sitting on plastic lawn chairs, and wondering what she was thinking about us. hehehehe 

About every twenty minutes. We do have a fenced in backyard, but the boys run between their friends' backyards too. Always within shouting distance (a couple houses away only).

If they are bike riding, I'm out there with them or checking every few minutes.

We live in a neighborhood with little through traffic.

They are seven. They must be outside together. If one comes in, both come in unless the one stays in our fenced backyard.

I had twins. As long as I could hear them, I didn't bother to check. It was only when it was quiet that I knew something was up.

They were only allowed to play on the back deck or in the backyard, and I let them play without me (but always within hearing distance) from about age 3 on. 

We live on a cul de sac and when DS went down the street to play with the neighbours I would check on him, but I knew he was safe down there as she was always in the yard with the kids. When he was little I would take him down to the bottom of the street, I would sit under a tree and read while he would play. He never left my sight. He went for a bike ride I would say 2x in his life. I used to take him to the park every morning and we would stay for an hour then he would get hungry and want to come home. Again he was always in my view and didn't wander off.