Community Chat

[KittyLouWho]

I live in a very nice little working class neighborhood, houses built in the 1950's, each on maybe 1/8 acre. Lots of older people who have lived there since those houses were built, and as they pass on, many of them have been bought by young couples with children. I really do like this neighborhood, and most everyone likes taking care of their yards and do most of the landscaping themselves and seem to take pride in it.

There are a few families near me, one that lives across the street and a few more who live a few houses down. Nice people, nice kids.

So now I'm going to do the "But WHEN I WAS A KID" thing, so bear with me

Seriously, when I was a kid, I seem to recall that we didn't ride our bikes over the neighbors yards (unless our kid friends lived there) or run through neighbors' yards (unless that's where our friends lived and that's where we played). We also didn't throw things like balls from across the street into our neighbors yards (unless we were throwing them to friends at THEIR houses) and then run through their flower beds to retrieve their balls or whatever. I don't recall that we hung around right in front of other people's windows, either, looking into their living rooms when the blinds or curtains are open. Unless, of course, our friends lived there and their parents were fine with them looking in their windows.

The weather has been beautiful and every day these kids have been in my yard when I get home from work, running through my yard, up onto my porch, and retrieiving things from my front flower bed that get thrown there from one of the kids' houses across the street.

I have my blinds open as I like the light, and no one can see me from the sidewalk(which is where I prefer people stay, unless they're visiting) if I just happen to be walking around in my undies. But they sure can see me if they're up next to my window.

I feel that this is a violation of my privacy and it's starting to really tick me off. The kid's parents across the street can see where their son is, why don't they tell him that he shouldn't be running through someone's flower beds and tossing his baseball or football into their yard, right up to their windows?

I am thankful that these are not mean kids, just kids who are having fun. But I do think that parents might encourage them to play in their own yards, or at the very least, have some respect for other people's property AND privacy.

I don't want a confrontation with anyone as I like to get along with my neighbors and don't want to be "the mean lady", but am I right here? Would you feel the same as I do?