well, personally i wouldn't feel right going further away from the house than the car, garage or yard. next door for a second to give them mail that was incorrectly delivered to my house, yeah i can see it. next door for 10 minutes to shoot the shit or have a beer? absolutely not.
i don't know what kind of setting you live in, but the streets in my city are busy enough that i don't want the kids in the front yard without me. in the back (which is enclosed in a chain link fence, but not locked) is OK. of course, as i said, it's not locked... so the kids (my oldest is 7) have gone out of the back yard before and i was unhappy about it.
if there was a post office 4 doors down and i needed to pick up a package, i'd load the little one (17 months) in a stroller and have my 7 year old and 4 year old walk along with me. it'd be good exercise for 'em.
of course, this is all just my opinion and not a criticism of anybody else's. am i over-protective? yep, probably so.
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