But you can’t create the social environment that existed when all the kids had less supervision. This isn’t just the “someone will call the police” fear; it’s more prosaic too. At some point other parents will view you as suspect and won’t let their kids play with yours, which defeats some of the purpose. Some methods we’ve used: …
Another method we used was that before letting the kids be at park their own I talked with a lot of the other park parents. These conversations usually started with me asking something like “How are you thinking about when kids are ready to be at the park on their own?”, and then touched on a lot of things including what I was planning, walkie talkies, etc. People were neutral to supportive; no one seemed to think it would be irresponsible or unreasonable. This was useful both for reducing the chance that I had misjudged the situation, and reducing the risk that other people would call the cops (Imagined: “Is anyone here with those kids? I’m worried about them.” “Oh, those are Jeff and Julia’s kids, I talked with Jeff about this and he knows they’re here. They have a walkie talkie if they need him, and he’s checking on them every so often.”)
Another method we used was that before letting the kids be at park their own I talked with a lot of the other park parents. These conversations usually started with me asking something like “How are you thinking about when kids are ready to be at the park on their own?”, and then touched on a lot of things including what I was planning, walkie talkies, etc. People were neutral to supportive; no one seemed to think it would be irresponsible or unreasonable. This was useful both for reducing the chance that I had misjudged the situation, and reducing the risk that other people would call the cops (Imagined: “Is anyone here with those kids? I’m worried about them.” “Oh, those are Jeff and Julia’s kids, I talked with Jeff about this and he knows they’re here. They have a walkie talkie if they need him, and he’s checking on them every so often.”)