would you allow your kids to play with just about "any other kid" ...

I wish I could say Yes but I can't. I don't want my kids picking up on any bad "play" or being with other kids whose parents are not playing with a full deck. I have met some parents like this before in my neighborhood. I feel bad for the kid but my kids safety comes first.

If I had any concerns about the other child, I would only allow them to play with my supervision. If the child's parents seem not as attentive as I am to my children or if they seem out & out not safe, I am not going to punish the child for that but I am not going to subject my child to possible harm.

i hate to say this but sometimes i get paranoid over my daughter's safety that i see to it that i should know the background of the child she is playing with. you cant blame me coz there was an incident before that i just let my daughter play with anybody she likes but then i just found out that the kid she was playing to (by the way, she is about the same age of my daughter and a "she") kept on bullying her and told her mean things. after that incident, if i am at work, i let someone from my family to supervise my child's play and not just with "anybody" but somebody that we know already and inside our property. children these days can be violent at times and i dont want to risk my child just because so she gets someone to interact to. i guess it would be best if you personally know the family of their friends.

Kids have to learn to interact with other kids, and so long as your child is happy to play, then let him. I don't think it matters too much exactly who he plays with, they will make their own choices anyway

To a point, yes. I think it's good for kids to experience lots of other people, so they can learn what are good characteristics in people, and choose who they want to associate with. I would provide much supervision though, especially if I don't know the other kid, or if I've heard that they can be a bad influence. My kids will figure them out pretty quickly. The exception would be if I knew that they were serious troublemakers or dangerous. There's a fine line between letting the kids learn and putting them into a bad situation. It's also a good thing for kids to learn to occupy themselves. There's nothing wrong with kids enjoying a good book or running around in the yard playing by themselves. Those kids seem to be more observant and confident in my opinion.

I would have to say no. During her first playdates with friends, I noticed some of the children were so mean and my daughter would pick up on the bad behavior for days after the playdate. My daughter is so sweet and gentle and I don't want a mean child changing the way she is.

My son chooses his own friends. However, if there is a friend that does not listen when he/she is at our home, then that child can not come to play by our home.

As long as the other kid don´t get them to bad ways,i teach my children that they have to choose their friends not me but be careful with that choise.

no, My little one has a few "friends" that just are not good friends. He's only 2 1/2 though, so I feel I must help him choose whether or not he wants to play with them. I dont like a few of them as they are older and constanly hitting, pushing and shoving him. He puts up with it for awhile and then he wails on them. Which he gets a time out for, but I don't blame him really. We have been keeping those kind of "friends" away from him though.

Till now I always left my child to choose his own friends. Unfortunately the children who live near our house are all older than my son, but my son is happy to play with them, and so they always come to my garden to play with him. I stay in the garage or in the kitchen working, but always with my window open because I have to hear they playing and speaking. I sometimes hear bad words or see acts of prevarication, and so I come out and I rebuke them. To me it's very important that parents pay attention when their child is still too young.

My kid can play with whoever he wants to play with, I'm certainly not going to teach my child to discriminate against someone because they are messy, or because of who their parents are, or because they don't have the same beliefs.