Is it customary for children to play outside unsupervised in New Zealand cities?
As an American immigrant to NZ one of the things that most shocked me when I first arrived here was how kids are left unsupervised at much younger ages than in the US. I work part-time at a video store and it is very common for kids as young as 8 to come in all on their own, having walked or biked from their houses by themselves. And this is not small-town or rural NZ we’re talking about, this is Auckland, a city of 1.4 million. People here definitely feel safer, but I think it is mostly a perception thing. We don’t have 24 hour news networks constantly making parents afraid. There are no headlines about kids disappearing. Kids also seem much more inclined to play outside in NZ and I think the mild climate has a lot to do with that, as well as the focus put on outside activities here. Primary school kids spend heaps more time outside playing every day than American elementary school kids do. It’s a cultural thing.
