Whackadoodle neighbors

[LauraMoser]

We've had an issue with our one neighbor before. That lady is a nosy busybody. Never had an issue with the neighbors on the other side though...

Well just a little while ago I walked outside for a minute. The 6 yo was outside on his bike. I say hi to those neighbors usually, so I said hi to the boy. The boy then tells me "M (my 4 yo DD) needs to stop looking at our property."

Um...wtf? This seems like an awful strange thing for a 6 yo to come up with himself, so my guess is he heard it from someone else. Maybe his parents, or the neighbor on the other side of us? Whatever the case, DD1 has done nothing wrong. She stays in our yard. She is friendly with the boy, and will talk to him whenever she sees him outside. Last I checked, its not against the law to merely look around when you walk out your front door.

I get the feeling we're not liked by either set of neighbors, although we've never done anything wrong. We really need to get that privacy fence up.

[LauraMoser]

Aug 16, 2012 18:22:51 GMT -5 @mx said:

I don't know, he's a six year old. They say silly things without fully understanding what they mean.

I recently told one of my favorite five year olds that she cried a lot when she was a baby. Without even skipping a beat she replied "that's because I didn't like white people." I'm pretty sure her parents don't hate white people, she's just a kid saying something weird because in her little brain it made sense.

Now if you start getting other vibes from the neighbors maybe it means something!

I generally get weird vibes from them, even when I try to be friendly.

[blueshirt2003]

That must be so annoying to get weird vibes from them for no reason. Neighborhood tension is always so awkward.

I hope you can get the fence up sooner rather than later.

[LauraMoser]

Aug 16, 2012 18:47:50 GMT -5 @blueshirt2003 said:

That must be so annoying to get weird vibes from them for no reason. Neighborhood tension is always so awkward.

I hope you can get the fence up sooner rather than later.

It probably won't be until next spring/summer.

On a side note, the busy body neighbor on the other side has tomatoes and other fruits/veggies hanging over the fence into our yard. MM has declared that over the fence= we can trim it if we want right? I just noticed that when I took the dog out. This lady called the township for branches laying in our yard hanging over the fence (they were not, by the way, we made sure of that just out of common courtesy).

I'm getting the shits of feeling like I can't enjoy my own damn yard. Can you tell? We put up a nice swing set for our kids and I don't even feel comfortable taking them out to play on it. Its really a shame.

[blueshirt2003]

Yep, I'd be upset if I couldn't take my kids out to their swing set without feeling weird too!

[birdmom]

My neighbor goes out in his backyard naked. So I feel ya on the odd neighbor thing.

[rachaelnicole]

Aug 16, 2012 18:22:51 GMT -5 @mx said:

I don't know, he's a six year old. They say silly things without fully understanding what they mean.

I recently told one of my favorite five year olds that she cried a lot when she was a baby. Without even skipping a beat she replied "that's because I didn't like white people." I'm pretty sure her parents don't hate white people, she's just a kid saying something weird because in her little brain it made sense.

Now if you start getting other vibes from the neighbors maybe it means something!

Agreed. Little kids say weird things. My three-year old's new favorite thing to say when he's mad is "I'll kick you in the ankle like a mail man." Um, what? Where the F did he come up with that? Surely he didn't hear it from us.

[6fsn]

I had a 6 yo tell my 4 yo she doesn't like him because he smiles too much. The next time we got together she loved him. I wouldn't read too much into it.

[whitepicketfence]

Aug 19, 2012 0:08:36 GMT -5 rachaelnicole said:

Aug 16, 2012 18:22:51 GMT -5 @mx said:

I don't know, he's a six year old. They say silly things without fully understanding what they mean.

I recently told one of my favorite five year olds that she cried a lot when she was a baby. Without even skipping a beat she replied "that's because I didn't like white people." I'm pretty sure her parents don't hate white people, she's just a kid saying something weird because in her little brain it made sense.

Now if you start getting other vibes from the neighbors maybe it means something!

Agreed. Little kids say weird things. My three-year old's new favorite thing to say when he's mad is "I'll kick you in the ankle like a mail man." Um, what? Where the F did he come up with that? Surely he didn't hear it from us.

This made me LOL.

[chessie]

It always can be worse. First time we met our neighbors was the 2nd day we moved here..the "wandered" onto the property and we noticed them picking wild mushrooms out of my field..They greeted me, hope you dont mind us picking off your property mushrooms so good..Not a great way to start, since they had to jump a fence to GET there!!!

[smiley]

Aug 16, 2012 18:54:33 GMT -5 LauraMoser said:

Aug 16, 2012 18:47:50 GMT -5 @blueshirt2003 said:

On a side note, the busy body neighbor on the other side has tomatoes and other fruits/veggies hanging over the fence into our yard. MM has declared that over the fence= we can trim it if we want right?

I would enjoy the fruits / veggies etc hanging in my yard

[Deleted]

Aug 16, 2012 18:54:33 GMT -5 LauraMoser said:

Aug 16, 2012 18:47:50 GMT -5 @blueshirt2003 said:

That must be so annoying to get weird vibes from them for no reason. Neighborhood tension is always so awkward.

I hope you can get the fence up sooner rather than later.

It probably won't be until next spring/summer.

On a side note, the busy body neighbor on the other side has tomatoes and other fruits/veggies hanging over the fence into our yard. MM has declared that over the fence= we can trim it if we want right? I just noticed that when I took the dog out. This lady called the township for branches laying in our yard hanging over the fence (they were not, by the way, we made sure of that just out of common courtesy).

I'm getting the shits of feeling like I can't enjoy my own damn yard. Can you tell? We put up a nice swing set for our kids and I don't even feel comfortable taking them out to play on it. Its really a shame.

I think the thing about the swingset is a little dramatic - you probably just need to get over that. Who cares if your neighbors don't like you? As long as they are not actively saying/doing anything to you when you're outside, just ignore the world around you and enjoy your yard. Don't worry about whether or not people who don't matter like you.

FWIW we don't have a relationship with any of our neighbors - the people on the other side our duplex had dinner with us once and then denied any and all invitations to do something again, so I assume they don't like us much (at least the wife, the husband is always super friendly with my husband but then backs out of plans later). The other neighbors surrounding us don't come out much and when they do, we don't really talk. I don't know what any of them think of us, probably the same as we think of them (not much). I'd probably rather be able to go out into the yard without having to talk to anyone anyway, so maybe it is better if your neighbors don't want to be friendly?