Wanted: Nice Kids & Cool Parents for Good Times
Every now and then my husband will quote a Clint Eastwood movie and say “Please…let there be sheeeeews (shoes).” I’m not clear on the significance of this quote but as I look out the window at the “For Sale” sign in my neighbor’s yard, I am reminded of it.
Please…let there be kids
Please, please, please let a family with kids move into that house. I’m so tired of investor owners and the singleton renters.
We have been here for almost four years and only one other child has ever lived around here. And she was sweet little girl but her parents, though nice enough, were very weird & secretive. I found out later that mom had a ‘lil problem with the crack. Apparently, she was selling off everything they owned to support her habit and I had no clue whatsoever. Maybe it’s good that they moved…
Before them, when we first moved here, a registered sex offender rented that house, which we learned AFTER we closed on our home and moved in. I found out he had been convicted of having sex with a minor under 13 who, it turns out, was his stepdaughter. Now he lives with his mother on the next block. Yeesh.
Then there was the house on the corner… The elderly man who owned it died and it remained vacant for almost a year. For a couple months after the house was vacated, a dog was chained up there. A big, loud one. Someone was coming and feeding him but not regularly. I started going over there and giving the poor thing food and water. Animal control wouldn’t do anything because they said he had food. Because I was feeding him. DUH! I finally got in contact with an underground group that rescues animals from abusive situations and they just took him.
I just want my kids to grow up like I did. There were scads of children in our neighborhood. You could go outside and find someone to play with at any given moment up until it got dark. The parents were all friendly with each other and there was a sense of community that doesn’t seem to exist anymore, or at least not in the places I have lived. God knows I have tried to be a good and friendly neighbor, even to the renters and the people without kids. It just doesn’t ever feel reciprocal. People act like it’s a bother to wave at you or cross the street to say hi.
I guess I just have this idea that if there were kids for my children to play with, there might be a parent friend in it for me, too. I imagine doing all those stereotypical things that people on TV do, like having weekend barbecues or sitting out front at dusk gabbing while the kids play, having someone to trade babysitting with or any number of inconsequential things that make neighbors be friends.
I know…if you want to have a friend, you need to BE a friend. I get that. And I AM a good friend. There’s just nobody to be a friend to. The guy that’s moving is gay/single and while he’s nice, he was definitely not interested in being my neighborhood BFF. And my other neighbor is a single guy that is hardly ever home. Same for the girl across the street. Single. Never home.
We continue to live here because it’s a very short drive for my husband to get to work. We moved back to the city because the commuting was ridiculous but with housing prices being what they are, we’re now kind of stuck in this very small house in this non-family friendly neighborhood of ours.
I keep hoping my nagging the huz will one day result in his willingness to move someplace with a more reasonable cost of living. Theoretically, this would allow us to still be a one income family but live in a larger home in a better neighborhood that has some families.
But the clock is ticking…my kids will only be kids for a brief period of time. Once they’re teenagers big yards, sidewalks and families with little ones won’t matter to them and the chance to give them a childhood like mine will be gone.
Please…let there be kids!
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Love your halloween decorations!
Oooh so festive. And I’d love to have you next door.
Sigh.
I’ve been very fortunate here. It’s only the odd time that daughter is at a loss for somebody to hang out with.
Love the new look! Makes me want candy …
I wish we could be your neighbors. I make a great friend, and I have 4 very sweet kids. We could hang out all the time and be just like the sappy tv shows! Too bad we live so far away!
I love your new Halloween stuff! I wish I had your talent with that!
I love your decorations! Especially the retro art on the banner.
We have a wonderful neighborhood. There’ve been a few instances of unfriendliness, but for the most part, it’s ideal. Neighbors like you would be welcome anytime!
I am having the same thoughts right now, since the “sold” sign went up on the townhouse attached to ours (we have the end unit). There are some kids in the neighborhood, but we’ve had some issues with them and their parental supervision, or lack thereof, and most of them are older than my kids, anyway. Every time I’ve had decent neighbors with a good relationship, they’ve moved. This was all pretty much before kids or when the bigs were really little. We also have the cost of living issue, as the DC area is freaking expensive with long commutes, and we need to move before too long to accomodate the new baby. Since we’re in a townhouse it is a little more transient; only one family has lived here for any length of time; we are considered long-timers at 7 years.
Sigh. Maybe we’ll end up living next to each other some day. I promise to share babysitting and margaritas.
First, love your fall Template!! It’s my favorite season.
Second, we have always had this problem. When all our friends were buying brand new homes, we bought an older home in a long established neighborhood because we got twice the house, twice the yard, for the same price. The problem with that, is that most of the people living here were either empty nesters, or had older children.
For many years, neither of us had anybody to play with, so I feel your pain. I felt so isolated and lonely. Then my sister moved here and though it didn’t solve our playmate problem, I at least had some adult compnay.
Our county has absolutely exploded population wise, so we are getting a lot of new, younger families. My older son has a whole herd of kids his age to play with now. Unfortunately, my younger has nobody his age near enough for him to walk or bike to. So, of course, he hangs out with the big kids, which causes problems.
Thankfully, he seems to have made quite a few friends in his class this year, and I’m happy to drive him if it means someone his own age to play with. He’s old enough to have drop off playdates, which is awesome.
I’ve often joked with women I’ve met online that we needed to found a commune for online acquaintances to live together.
God, do I feel your pain! Moving around as much as we do, my biggest worry is whether there will be enough kids in the neighborhood we choose. In the last few years I’ve gotten lucky.
I had the same childhood as you: a street full of kids playing until it was time for bed. That is what I want for my kids and it is good for my sanity as well! If you can move, I would.
There is only one little girl in our neighborhood, a delightful three-year-old that we’ve had over exactly once.
Why don’t you come live next to me?
Love the new look!
I completely know how you feel about the kids thing. I live in the city and I love the fact that we’re close to downtown where we work and have a fairly unique home etc. but the downside is that it seems that all the families are the suburbs. There are some kids on our street, but they are older than Little Guy. I ended up trying to find a moms’ group for me and for Little Guy and after a couple attempts I found a small group of women with kids his age. It’s been a lifesaver, but I still wish there were kids with young parents just down the street.
Not much for kidlets out here in the sticks. We have to drive a few miles to find any. Play dates are a big thing around here. But we compensate with cousins, our pool, trampoline, and all the other kiddy play things. And at least Fric and Frac have each other. They are best friends.
Good luck to you!
Fantastic look! I feel bad for you that you haven’t found any kids to play with nearby. Have you checked around for Mothers of Preschoolers Groups or something similar? They can be a great way to meet other Moms and their kids!
p.s. that plastic bag ticker is so cool. i love how Earth-friendly you are. you rock.
here’s to the kid karma. BTW, love your new look…very sassy.
to literally every fucking thing you just wrote: YES. ME TOO. why don’t you just come live in baltimore, huh? (please?)
ps: love the halloween design
I hope a nice family moves in. They would be lucky to have a cool mom neighbor like you.
lisa
We live in a newly-built neighborhood, where there are a lot of families. Yet no one makes any effort to really get to know each other. Some of the kids play together a bit, but the parents don’t know each other well.
And then there’s the question of letting the kids play together. Our next-door neighbors are nice, but their four kids are rude, violent, and badly behaved. No way I’m letting Cordy play with them.
Here’s hoping you get a nice family with well behaved children.
I totally know where you are coming from. My kids are 8 and 5 and the only other kid on our street is a 9 year old who only plays with my son when there is nothing better to do (I hate that!). My poor daughter has no one to play with. We have to set up playdates with friends from school which is not nearly as convenient as having neighbors to play with like I did as a kid. My best friend and I met when we were two and lived next door to each other. Thirty eight years later we still laugh so hard when we are with each other that we pee our pants.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you get your family next door.
PS: Love the new look :)
We live in the city to be close to our jobs (no highway travel & literally 7 minutes from work) which is nice, except there are no kids here either. Birmingham City schools suck, and anyone who is considering having children either lives in a mansion and sends thier kids to private school or doesn’t buy a house here. We have to live here for a few more years, but I really dread buying a house that will make my commute more than 15 minutes.
nice new look! festive:)
Um..I dont know if anone else is having this problem, but flickr seems to be slowing down the loading process to this site. It just seems stuck on ‘read flickr’….
Make sure you plant some toys in your yard or some other clues to potential buyers! GL.
I loved reading your blog today! I hope kids move into your neighborhood, too! I hope I can find some mom friends, too! It’s lonely out here!
I also have to say your Halloween themed banner is really cool!
On my right: the pallid hacking pot smoker. On my left: drunk gay dude with the manic escaping dog. Nary a kid in sight, I think it’s a trend. Where are all the kids, then? I know they’re out there.
With our house being up for sale, I always hope that the people that will buy it will have kids, so that the neighborhood will stay the same.
Its hard Izzy. Even in our new “neighborhood”, finding and wooing potential playmates takes forever. I mean honestly. Plus our kids can’t just Play outside the way we did. it is a sad change, but I am always watching from the porch of deck when Em is outside….on guard.
To think I missed you by about seven months…
We are not only the youngest people on the block, but the youngest by like 20+years… our luck will be that our kids are in high school and all our neighbors will move to retirement communities and a whole slew of young families will move in with their broods and we will be cranky cuz we’ll be over it.
Oh, that feeling of running out the door to run with the pack….
I wish for kids for you. We are very fortunate, we have no fences on either side of us, and everyone gathers at our place, because we are the most laid back. On a typical summer day, there will be about 4 to 8 kids in our yard….maybe you should move on up here?
We watched the “for rent” townhome across from ours a couple of years ago and hoped that a family would rent it - and they did. We became BFF. We became this co-op family. we ate together, we bathed the kids together many nights while drinking big glasses of red wine. We celebrated Easter/New Years and I even ended up looking after their baby when mom went back to work. then they bought a house and moved, and so did we. but it was such a happy time and ideal like you described it. Sending you good vibes for a decent family to move in.
God, that really does sound ideal. You give me hope :)
I hope you get some help in this dept. soon. I live across from the elementary school and have kids out the wazoo, but by far the best part is their parents who’ve become my dear friends. I feel for you b/c my old neighborhood was more like yours. I hope they have kids too!
I’m praying for kids to move onto our block too. We live 1 block away from a park and six blocks away from 2 elementry schools (one catholic/one public). And guess who inhabits our block. Old people and singles who mow their lawns three times a week! WTF! There is a house for sale down the street but I’m not holding my breath. I think we’ll move before other families ever move on to our block.
Hope you get some kids:)
I remember you telling me about your neighborhood.
SO JEALOUS!
I know what you mean. It IS great having kids the same ages as your own to play with. Move to my subdivision. The chicks would LOVE you here. And you’d love them. Plus, there is a TONS of kids here.
The search for community seems more difficult as one has kids and gets older etc. etc. I live in a kid-friendly neighborhood with lots of playmates for my kids… but not so many kindred spirits for me. That’s why I love blogging.
The house on the corner of our lane (two houses up) is for sale. I found myself thinking the same thing. With the same, “And let their parents not suck,” attached to it. Of course, it’s not because I grew up with scads of children… it’s because I didn’t. 89 acres of land in the middle of no where didn’t bring many friends my way.
I wish for that every single time I see a house go up for sale in our neighborhood. It’s getting a bit easier to get to know parents in the larger neighborhood, now that my son is in school. But, I still would love for him to be able to just ‘go out and play’ like I did when I was a kid.
Awww hun I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you on the kids thing! I was so lucky when I moved into my house. Kids right next door. Thank GOD! Cause the place I was before I wouldn’t even want my kids to go outside!
We had those kind of neighbors once and then we moved. We moved here where our neighborhood is basically the center of campus and we live around professors, students, and retired people mainly. The only kids are from the daycare down the street and I dont think we can go down there and make friends. LOL.