MJ2.0
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Post by MJ2.0 on Jun 5, 2015 10:43:38 GMT -5
Ryan, there aren't really any kids near us either. Why are the local kids weird?
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whoisjohngalt
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Post by whoisjohngalt on Jun 5, 2015 10:48:09 GMT -5
I must be the only one who is not upset that my kids don't play that much with the kids next door.
I prefer to have nice cordial relationship with the neighbors, nothing more nothing less
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2015 10:56:50 GMT -5
The benefit I could see to neighbor kid friendships is that they could transport themselves easily to and from. I do a lot of driving and coordinating.
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yogiii
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Post by yogiii on Jun 5, 2015 11:48:23 GMT -5
I have a 6 year old and twin 4 year olds. My twins are perfectly content just playing with each other. I couldn't even imagine having playdates at this age because they tend to take so long warming up to the other kid that it might not be worth it. I didn't really start worrying about playdates until this year for my son. I had assumed that, once my son started kindergarten (just right down the street) that he'd find out kids in his class lived a couple streets away and it'd be easy to arrange playdates. Turns out, there actually are no kids that live in our immediate subdivision and, the ones that do, are kinda weird (in my eyes). Like we have one house on the corner that has 2 kids, but I literally never see them...EVER. Now I'm starting to think I should've setup more playdates! This is close to my situation also. We live in a neighborhood where most people have 2-4 kids and no one is ever outside. It's so odd.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Jun 5, 2015 11:49:18 GMT -5
I'm so grateful I have kids that rarely if ever fight! My kids are always on opposite extremes. Either they get along super well or they are at each other's throats. No middle ground. But, the older two, I think they will be OK as adults. DS talks about keeping our house after DH and I have to move out. DD1 then pipes in and says she'll move in a few houses down from him.
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ArchietheDragon
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Post by ArchietheDragon on Jun 5, 2015 11:50:36 GMT -5
I must be the only one who is not upset that my kids don't play that much with the kids next door. I prefer to have nice cordial relationship with the neighbors, nothing more nothing less My kids play with the neighbors almost every day. On a weekend day, they could be playing together for 8 hours. It is good and bad. The good is that they keep eachother entertained. The bad is that God forbid we want our kids to come inside before the neighbors go inside, it is like Armageddon.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Jun 5, 2015 11:53:12 GMT -5
This is close to my situation also. We live in a neighborhood where most people have 2-4 kids and no one is ever outside. It's so odd. I don't think it's odd. Particularly in DD1's class, the parents are really mostly interested in drop off activities/classes, etc. We keep our kids somewhat busy, but not as busy as other families. We have a child across the street from us that's close to DD2's age. It's surprising at how little time they get to play together during the week. Between differing nap schedules and because we have two older kids, we aren't around as much.
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Ryan
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Post by Ryan on Jun 5, 2015 12:03:18 GMT -5
Ryan, there aren't really any kids near us either. Why are the local kids weird? I shouldn't say they are totally weird, but my little pocket (maybe 200-250 houses) is very different than all the surrounding areas. My area is unincorporated and the people here tend to be more private and value the “freedom” that living in an unincorporated comes with (leaf burning, parking on the street overnight, collecting firewood on the side of your house, etc)….they also think it feels more small townish because you have wooded large lots right in the middle of a very vibrant and centrally located area. You can go literally 1 block over and be in a pish-posh town with 2x the property taxes and you’d have the same crime rate and send your kids to the same school. However, we have an “older” population here that has been here for awhile. The bulk of my neighbors on the street are in their 60’s and there are a few in their 80’s. The far side of the development are all tear-downs that are being replaced by $1M+ houses and these people fear it will happen to the rest of the area. I can KINDA see their point, but it’s bound to happen here. Most of the houses are SMALL 1950’s ranches (no basement) and are very dated. If you have the budget, you’re better off spending the money and starting from scratch since you have a large lot to work with. It’s funny cause one of my neighbors said that he doesn’t like the huge mansions because they don’t keep with the charm of the area…..to me, a relative newcomer to the area, I think the existing homes look like crap and should be bulldozed. I don’t consider homes built in the 1950’s to have much charm. But to your question, they are probably weird because of the type of people this area has historically attracted. The parents keep to themselves and the kids don’t really run around the area and play. These kids live 2 doors over and I have MAYBE seen them twice since we’ve lived there (4 years). I value some privacy (I don’t want neighbors bothering me all the time), but this area is WAY beyond that. I’m kinda used to neighbors that are more friendly overall and younger families that will seek out other younger families.
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yogiii
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Post by yogiii on Jun 5, 2015 12:27:42 GMT -5
This is close to my situation also. We live in a neighborhood where most people have 2-4 kids and no one is ever outside. It's so odd. I don't think it's odd. Particularly in DD1's class, the parents are really mostly interested in drop off activities/classes, etc. We keep our kids somewhat busy, but not as busy as other families. We have a child across the street from us that's close to DD2's age. It's surprising at how little time they get to play together during the week. Between differing nap schedules and because we have two older kids, we aren't around as much. Your kids are never outside on the weekends riding bikes or anything?
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Jun 5, 2015 12:43:47 GMT -5
I don't think it's odd. Particularly in DD1's class, the parents are really mostly interested in drop off activities/classes, etc. We keep our kids somewhat busy, but not as busy as other families. We have a child across the street from us that's close to DD2's age. It's surprising at how little time they get to play together during the week. Between differing nap schedules and because we have two older kids, we aren't around as much. Your kids are never outside on the weekends riding bikes or anything? During the week, Monday-Friday, yes the kids are hardly out. Even the peanut. On the days she goes to preschool, she really just goes to preschool and then comes home and naps. That's her day until dinner. On weekends, yes our kids are outside. They'd like to be outside by 6:45 am when the weather is nice. We're mean and say no. No one wants to hear the peanut scream at the top of her lungs at 7 am because "ANT!!!!" But even that depends. Next week, DS has 4 little league games, 2 of them happening on weekends. That's a three hour commitment right there for each game. Throw in an hour and a half for eating, another 30 minutes for chores, and his day is half gone. This spring DD1 did soccer. So there's another 1.5 hours out of a Saturday for games.. Usually DD1 comes to DS's games. She's outside, but not at home, playing with the neighbor girl.
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Jun 5, 2015 12:59:31 GMT -5
I must be the only one who is not upset that my kids don't play that much with the kids next door. I prefer to have nice cordial relationship with the neighbors, nothing more nothing less My kids play with the neighbors almost every day. On a weekend day, they could be playing together for 8 hours. It is good and bad. The good is that they keep eachother entertained. The bad is that God forbid we want our kids to come inside before the neighbors go inside, it is like Armageddon. That's the way it was for me when I was a small kid. And there was nothing worse than having to go to bed in early summer when it was still a bit light outdoors. I would look out my bedroom window and still see baseball games being played in the neighboring city park. This was many, many years after Abner Doubleday invented baseball by the way.
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MJ2.0
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Post by MJ2.0 on Jun 5, 2015 14:03:47 GMT -5
I was the same way - I did activities but on weekends and in the summer I played with neighborhood kids or my own friends a lot.... venturing down to the creek, riding bikes in the neighborhood.... I miss being a kid.
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muttleynfelix
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Post by muttleynfelix on Jun 5, 2015 14:04:06 GMT -5
I must be the only one who is not upset that my kids don't play that much with the kids next door. I prefer to have nice cordial relationship with the neighbors, nothing more nothing less My kids play with the neighbors almost every day. On a weekend day, they could be playing together for 8 hours. It is good and bad. The good is that they keep eachother entertained. The bad is that God forbid we want our kids to come inside before the neighbors go inside, it is like Armageddon. This is our new neighborhood. Of the 25 houses on our street and that we back up to, 2/3 have kids in elementary school. DS just has to go in the back yard or down the street and some one is playing and will let him play with them. Getting him to come in is a problem. He thinks the world is ending if he isn't playing with someone at all times.
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yogiii
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Post by yogiii on Jun 5, 2015 14:10:10 GMT -5
Your kids are never outside on the weekends riding bikes or anything? During the week, Monday-Friday, yes the kids are hardly out. Even the peanut. On the days she goes to preschool, she really just goes to preschool and then comes home and naps. That's her day until dinner. On weekends, yes our kids are outside. They'd like to be outside by 6:45 am when the weather is nice. We're mean and say no. No one wants to hear the peanut scream at the top of her lungs at 7 am because "ANT!!!!" But even that depends. Next week, DS has 4 little league games, 2 of them happening on weekends. That's a three hour commitment right there for each game. Throw in an hour and a half for eating, another 30 minutes for chores, and his day is half gone. This spring DD1 did soccer. So there's another 1.5 hours out of a Saturday for games.. Usually DD1 comes to DS's games. She's outside, but not at home, playing with the neighbor girl. We don't do anything during the week, it's just the big rush to have dinner and get ready for bed. I guess my DH and I had the childhood more like what Tennesser described. I think my DS especially would love it but it's not the cards for him. Where I am, even the people who are SAHMs seem to have their kids in camps or activities all day, so there never seem to be kids just hanging outside.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Jun 5, 2015 15:16:41 GMT -5
Where I am, even the people who are SAHMs seem to have their kids in camps or activities all day, so there never seem to be kids just hanging outside. I know. It's crazy when you drive around our city. It's decently sized at 200K. Most of the city parks are empty from 8:30-3. My two girls have bonded nicely with the little girl that lives across the street. DD2 (who is 3) has been informing the neighbor girl's parents that when the neighbor girl can talk more, DD2 is going to bring her bed over for a sleepover. Our neighborhood was built in the mid-late 70s. About half of the original home owners are still in their houses. I think eventually, we'll see more young kids in our neighbhorhood if our school gets better. It's two points away from failing, so not quite an asset currently. We used to have more kids in the neighborhood, that were closer to DS and DD1's age. We'd let DS roam around the neighborhood on Saturdays when he was 6 and 7. But, unfortunately those families left. One was due to weather, the other due to the school.
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joemilitary
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Post by joemilitary on Jun 5, 2015 15:42:33 GMT -5
I thought this was a discussion about Heffner's women? and why does MJ want some for her kid anyway?
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Chocolate Lover
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Post by Chocolate Lover on Jun 5, 2015 15:48:02 GMT -5
I have a 6 year old and twin 4 year olds. My twins are perfectly content just playing with each other. I couldn't even imagine having playdates at this age because they tend to take so long warming up to the other kid that it might not be worth it. I didn't really start worrying about playdates until this year for my son. I had assumed that, once my son started kindergarten (just right down the street) that he'd find out kids in his class lived a couple streets away and it'd be easy to arrange playdates. Turns out, there actually are no kids that live in our immediate subdivision and, the ones that do, are kinda weird (in my eyes). Like we have one house on the corner that has 2 kids, but I literally never see them...EVER. Now I'm starting to think I should've setup more playdates! This is close to my situation also. We live in a neighborhood where most people have 2-4 kids and no one is ever outside. It's so odd. Really? When parents are getting CPS called on them because their elementary aged kids are outside unsupervised, you find it odd that the kids are inside?
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whoisjohngalt
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Post by whoisjohngalt on Jun 5, 2015 20:56:39 GMT -5
Now that i think about it - the neighbors kids are hardly ever out.
My kids are out all the time when it's not 50 below zero or 100 degrees hot. They even eat lunches outside.
My neigbor kids are in school until 3.30-4 pm and then I think they have activities, so I don't even hear them except on some weekends.
Also, I noticed that when we go parks and playgrounds, there are mostly infants and toddles there and some older-older kids, biking and roller blading, but not many kids of early elementary school age.
Where are they??
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MJ2.0
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Post by MJ2.0 on Jun 20, 2015 9:37:11 GMT -5
He is still asking about C. I hoped he'd be over him by now
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zibazinski
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Post by zibazinski on Jun 20, 2015 9:42:46 GMT -5
We drove through neighborhoods before we bought. When we found one that we saw kids playing in, we looked for a lot. There was one. We bought it. Lived there very happily and would have been happily living there still had my EX not been an asshole. All the neighbors are still there. A few old people died off and new families moved in but it's not like it was when my kids were growing up. I would have liked to have given my kids the stability and continuity of one home-period.
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NoNamePerson
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Post by NoNamePerson on Jun 20, 2015 20:57:30 GMT -5
This is close to my situation also. We live in a neighborhood where most people have 2-4 kids and no one is ever outside. It's so odd. Really? When parents are getting CPS called on them because their elementary aged kids are outside unsupervised, you find it odd that the kids are inside? Geeze, back in my kiddos days I would have been hauled off to a maximum security prison based on todays rules and regulations. -faint-But then I would have been in good company since half the neighborhood parents would have had adjoining cells......
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