Neighbourhood kids

[Deleted]

Do you know many neighborhood kids? Especially if your kids are older? My kids have friends on our street that they hang with, so they aren't lacking in friends. (in fact it's great, I just kick them out and they play outside in the neighborhood for hours at time)

However, I just found out that our 'across the street and one over' neighbor has a daughter my dd1's age who's in Brownies with her, and her Mom is a leader. We had no idea we have lived across from each other for the past 5 years, until another parent advised us.

Would you recognize your neighbors? Do you think this is strange or normal?

My kids are 5&7, we moved here just before DD2 was born.

[savannah11]

No, but we're working on that. Mine are 3 and 5. DS just started kindergarten and we discovered 3 other boys that live within a block or two of us that are in his class. We met them on our walk to school. It made me kind of sad that we didn't discover this earlier. No one plays outside anymore.

[Deleted]

I went to a birthday party where the mother obviously knew who I was, but I had no clue who she was. We live in the same 'hood, but she doesn't live 10 houses in either direction from me

[Becca]

I know nearly all the neighborhood kids that are 6 and under. From 8 homes, I know one set of parents well, one mom in a neighborly way (could totally borrow a cup of sugar from her, but probably wouldn't hang out), and I have met one other set of parents one time.

But I know all the kids well, and see most daily. DD isn't allowed to play at any of the houses of the kids whose parents I don't know. Even once I meet them, my view of their judgment is forever clouded.

The non-kid neighbors, I don't know them all by name, but would probably recognize 90% of them as a neighbor.

[frlcb]

I find it strange to not know people who live across the street from you, but we have a very friendly street, with 16 kids under the age of 6 and we have happy hours in our driveways, our kids play on sports teams together and we (adults) all get along.

[bunch]

Yes. Our neighborhood has 40 houses. Half of which have kids. I could tell you which house each kid belongs to.

[Deleted]

Oct 14, 2012 18:34:57 GMT -5 frlcb said:

I find it strange to not know people who live across the street from you, but we have a very friendly street, with 16 kids under the age of 6 and we have happy hours in our driveways, our kids play on sports teams together and we (adults) all get along.

I think thats great!

We have 46 kids under 12, on our street of 40 houses. Lots of kids. I know we can't know them all (my kids have a group of about a dozen that they hang with). I guess many of them don't hang outside like mine though... I am surprised that I didn't realize I didn't recognize the ones that live so close to us though.

I wish we had adult friends too but that's yet to happen!

[pugz]

we are in a cul de sac and everyone knows everyone. I do not know anyone on other streets nearby. We are directly across the street from the elementary school and I imagine when our kid goes there we might figure out where more people live based on those that walk to school.

[Deleted]

Live in the city--we know all the kids on our block & some on the next block...that's it unless we know them from school. Our neighborhood school sucks & most neighborhood kids go elsewhere. My DD go to a private school but there are many many kids from their school that live between our house& the school (.95 miles away). We have lots a kid friends in the hood but mainly my kids play with the boys next door (who are 8 & 4) but their mom is my bff so that plays in.

[schrodinger]

We have 14 homes on our cul de sac, and DH and I know all the kids. With the high school kids, I can't always remember which kid belongs to which house, but DH has a better memory for this than I do. SDs mostly play with two girls from two different houses.

[Deleted]

I guess another question would be --if they don't hang out outside, how would you meet them? My kids spend time outside everyday, but they see the same other kids all the time.

[satama]

No, but we live in a townhouse so there are a lot of neighbors. We know a handful of them. It is an older neighborhood though with a mix of people with young kids and retirees, and my kids don't go to school yet. The park in our neighborhood attracts a lot of people from the area so even though we meet kids there, a lot don't live in our neighborhood.

[Deleted]

We live in a small neighborhood and know most of our neighbors pretty well. There are only 3 other houses (of about 40) besides us that have kids.

[Deleted]

Oct 14, 2012 19:09:08 GMT -5 @gingersb said:

I guess another question would be --if they don't hang out outside, how would you meet them? My kids spend time outside everyday, but they see the same other kids all the time.

Our 'hood has pocket parks all over so we've met plenty of kids just playing at different parks, also there is a school in the middle of our 'hood so we meet kids there and then the HOA has playgroups that you can attend too for the younger crowd.

[froggy76]

I don't know my neighbors well, but I still see them all the time and wave. It's crazy that you had no idea this little girl lived across the street!

Most of the other residents of my neighborhood are retirees. There are a couple older kids down the street, but no one for DD to play with.

[dragonfly08]

My neighborhood is two cul de sacs, about 30-35 homes, and I know almost all of them. I absolutely know every family with children still living at home; the few people I wouldn't know on sight are those whose children are my age and who don't participate in any of the neighborhood social activities.