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Good Neighbor Day | Pad Patter 9.28.23

umyesh

umyesh

President of the Hangry Ladies Supper Club
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Jul 17, 2012
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Happy National Good Neighbor Day!

When I was growing up I knew every family in every house in my neighborhood. Most of my friends lived in my neighborhood so I was always outside playing with them.

Now that I’m an adult, I don’t know a lot of my neighbors. I don’t know the names of the people who live on either side of me. My kids are all better friends with people outside of our neighborhood so I drive them to friends’ houses.

How about you? Do you know your neighbors? How do you try to be a good neighbor?
 
We are just like you. I knew who lived in all 24 houses on both sides our long block back in Omaha. Today I know the first names of the adult neighbors on either side of us but none of the kids names. I rarely see children playing outside which is sad. We walk in the immediate neighborhood and rarely meet others on the route. Different times!
 
Iowan said:
We are just like you. I knew who lived in all 24 houses on both sides our long block back in Omaha. Today I know the first names of the adult neighbors on either side of us but none of the kids names. I rarely see children playing outside which is sad. We walk in the immediate neighborhood and rarely meet others on the route. Different times!
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You're better than me because you know the first names of the adult neighbors! ;) I've been meaning to welcome our newest neighbors but they haven't had front porch steps since they moved in so I don't want to be awkward and climb onto their porch without steps. So far I've just said hi while mowing the lawn.
 
I've known my neighbors across the street for about 25 years, and on one side for about 30 years. All our kids grew up together, but since they are all grown and moved out now we don't talk as much as we used to. They don't come outside a lot lol. My neighbors on the other side are just weird and I've never really talked to them at all. They've lived there for a few years. I don't even really know the dynamic. A man and his wife lived there, and then the wife left and like two other men and another woman moved in with the first man. When we first moved here and the kids were little, we had neighbors in that house that we hung out with all the time, played cards on the weekend, sledding in the winter. It was a good time.
We live in a subdivision with lots of homes, but we are on the far end in a cul-de-sac, so I don't see many of the other people...even my sister, whose house I can see from mine over the hill lol.
 
Wow! That's impressive to know every family in every house, even back several decades. Growing up in a small neighborhood of two streets that formed an L shape in San Diego county in the 1970's and '80's, I knew only maybe half of the neighbors in the bottom part of the L, where I lived, and none in the top part.

Now I live in a bigger subdivision in Virginia. I have met a little more than half a dozen of my neighbors, and only one couple have I talked to very much. My kids played outside quite a bit growing up, as we were homeschoolers, but there were rarely other kids out, even in the summer. We drove a lot to meet friends outside of the neighborhood.
 
IntenseMagic said:
I've known my neighbors across the street for about 25 years, and on one side for about 30 years. All our kids grew up together, but since they are all grown and moved out now we don't talk as much as we used to. They don't come outside a lot lol. My neighbors on the other side are just weird and I've never really talked to them at all. They've lived there for a few years. I don't even really know the dynamic. A man and his wife lived there, and then the wife left and like two other men and another woman moved in with the first man. When we first moved here and the kids were little, we had neighbors in that house that we hung out with all the time, played cards on the weekend, sledding in the winter. It was a good time.
We live in a subdivision with lots of homes, but we are on the far end in a cul-de-sac, so I don't see many of the other people...even my sister, whose house I can see from mine over the hill lol.
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We don’t come outside a lot either so I can relate! ;)

I know a single guy lives in the house to our left, but I’m like you and confused by the dynamic to the right.
 
michelepixels said:
Wow! That's impressive to know every family in every house, even back several decades. Growing up in a small neighborhood of two streets that formed an L shape in San Diego county in the 1970's and '80's, I knew only maybe half of the neighbors in the bottom part of the L, where I lived, and none in the top part.

Now I live in a bigger subdivision in Virginia. I have met a little more than half a dozen of my neighbors, and only one couple have I talked to very much. My kids played outside quite a bit growing up, as we were homeschoolers, but there were rarely other kids out, even in the summer. We drove a lot to meet friends outside of the neighborhood.
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Now that I’ve thought more about it, I probably didn’t know as many as I thought. It was definitely more than I know now though.
 
I grew up like that too, we knew practically everyone! Lots of kids roaming the neighborhood, it was very safe. I actually still know quite a few of my neighbors. My neighbor across the street is my walking buddy so we walk and talk nearly every day. I think I know everyone in the vicinity except the kitty corner house, I rarely see anyone even coming or going. My neighbors we share a back fence with are ALWAYS in their backyard so if I'm out there and close to the fence I will say hello (because I feel like it's weird not to) but they have never said hello first. They are very stand-offish.
 
Growing up I definitely knew more of the neighbors, but mostly because I knew the kids. We rode the bus to school together and I played with some of them too.

Now, I know the first names of the people that live directly near our house and a couple past that, but that's it. I know their faces and will chat with some other neighbors as we walk the neighborhood, or when they pass our house walking their dogs etc.
 
I live in the house my parents built in 1964. It is in a subdivision and to the west of me is an area that was always called "the woods" because it was loaded with trees. That is the area of the subdivision that was actually developed first in the mid-1950's. There are about 25 to 30 houses in this immediate area. The whole sub-division has between 200 and 300 houses (too lazy to count!). One section of about 60 to 75 houses was still a cornfield when I was growing up. I knew who a lot of my neighbors were when growing up but didn't necessarily have relationships with them except for the ones who had girls in my class. There were about 8 of us that lived in this area and we would always walk as a group when going somewhere (school, football games which were right by our sub-division), dances at a dance hall in downtown etc).

These days, I do know some of my neighbors right around me and am friendly and talk with some of the others that I see when I take walks. But the funny thing is when I talk about the neighborhood and mention a specific house, I always say the name of the owners from the 60's/70's! A lot of those houses were owned by the same families for many years and only as the owners started passing away have they gotten new owners.

In fact, someone asked me once if I was the "mayor" of our sub-division because of living here so long. I laughed but as I thought about it, I realized that even though there are a couple other houses that have children of the original builders of the home living in them (actually right behind me and across the street from me), my house was built before both of theirs. So yeah, I guess I am the "mayor" since I am the resident that has lived in the neighborhood the longest!
 
I grew up (mostly 1961-1971) on a 7 house cul-de-sac ... I knew all of the parents and kids on our street. As kids we did a lot together ... playing backyard baseball/football, tag, "war" in the woods, caroling at Christmas and our annual 4th of July parade. I also knew nearly all of the kids on the next street and their parents.

I've been living in my parents first home (where I lived from 3 to 8 as a kid) for the last 34 years. There are 1,600 houses in the neighborhood. I know most of the people on my street, but don't interact with most of them very often. Quite a few of the folks that lived here when I moved in were original owners (1950s) and have since passed away.

The original homes were small "starter" (-1,000 s.f.) homes for GIs out in what then was the "country" ... now we're in the middle of bustling Northern Virginia. The original homes are gradually being torn down and replaced with 5,000+ s.f. homes. The original house to my right was torn down after the Thomases died and a towering "McMansion" was built ... 7,352 s.f. (doesn't include basement or two car garage square footage), 6 bedrooms, 6 baths.

The family that moved in there 2 years ago has two small girls and they are VERY standoffish. I do know their names, but at best the wife and I wave as one or the other of us happen to drive by when the other is out front.

My neighbor to my left is a single middle aged man ... again I know his name and have chatted with him once or twice, but usually it's just a wave when we are both outside.

I do chat with people when out walking although I don't know their names or necessarily where they live. My kids and GK know a lot more of the kids b/c they went to school with them.

And Rene ... I too tend to refer to the houses around me as "so and so's house" no matter who's now living in it.
 
Memaw2Wm said:
And Rene ... I too tend to refer to the houses around me as "so and so's house" no matter who's now living in it.
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There is one house in the neighborhood that even newer residents know which one you are talking about when you call it by the original owner's name... The Armstrong house.

It is the house Neil Armstrong's parents lived in when he walked on the moon in 1969. His parents sold it when they moved to a retirement community home back in the 80's. There have been 3 different owners since but everyone still knows "The Armstrong house"!

Dad always said he should have charged $5 every time someone stopped and asked for directions to the house back then when he was working in the yard. (My street is the easiest way to get there). He said he would have been rich! I can see the north side of the house from my computer room and my cousin lives next door to it.
 
We live in a rural town in the mountains. We know the neighbors in our neighborhood - probably a dozen or so. My husband actually knows all of their names (I'm not so good at remembering names). There were a few neighborhood get-togethers when we first moved here, so we sort of got to know everyone. You could tell all of the other neighbors had lived here for a long time and knew each other. There's only one family with young children and our kids play together whenever they both happen to be outside at the same time. My kids play outside a lot and so do the neighbor kids (our neighbors are homeschoolers too!).

And because we live in a small town it feels like everyone knows everyone. Which can be good but also a little awkward. LOL. Every time you go somewhere you'll see people you know. And even if you don't know them - they know you somehow. Haha!
 
I know all the neighbors in our 4 unit appartment building. And I know our neighbors next door on both sides... our one neighbor is a real jerk face... *L* but most our neighbors are real nice.
Every holiday season I bake cookies for them and put them in their mail boxes with sweet notes
we also shovel or snow blow their driveways in the winter
 
We get on really well with the neighbours on the one side and much less well with the other ones.
Long story short - he cut my trees years ago and I called the police.
The sweet ones are really great, and we will often borrow eggs or baking tins from each other.
 
at our old house, everyone knew everyone else. Most people lived outdoors really, and there was lots of mixing.
Here people tend to keep to themselves. No-one invites you in, neither do they accept invitations to come to our house. Only get to talk if my walk coincides with them washing the car or walking the dog etc.
We joined the local church, and they have a lot of community activities, so I join in with those as a volunteer.
 
Lynnette said:
I grew up like that too, we knew practically everyone! Lots of kids roaming the neighborhood, it was very safe. I actually still know quite a few of my neighbors. My neighbor across the street is my walking buddy so we walk and talk nearly every day. I think I know everyone in the vicinity except the kitty corner house, I rarely see anyone even coming or going. My neighbors we share a back fence with are ALWAYS in their backyard so if I'm out there and close to the fence I will say hello (because I feel like it's weird not to) but they have never said hello first. They are very stand-offish.
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We are those stand-offish neighbors haha

I’m glad you have a neighborhood walking buddy!
 
Karen said:
Growing up I definitely knew more of the neighbors, but mostly because I knew the kids. We rode the bus to school together and I played with some of them too.

Now, I know the first names of the people that live directly near our house and a couple past that, but that's it. I know their faces and will chat with some other neighbors as we walk the neighborhood, or when they pass our house walking their dogs etc.
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I need to learn more first names! Good job chatting when you see them.
 
I live on an 11 house cul-de-sac and know most of the people on our street. When we moved in 24 years ago, we all got to know each other and for about 10 years, we had regular get-togethers and holiday parties in the cul-de-sac or at each others' houses. Then a bunch of those neighbors moved out and new ones moved in. I know most of them but not as well as my former neighbors. My one neighbor often invites folks over for drinks and I like her a lot but my other neighbor has pretty much alienated all of the people who are directly near his house by just generally being unpleasant and abrasive.
 
HavaDrPepper said:
I live in the house my parents built in 1964. It is in a subdivision and to the west of me is an area that was always called "the woods" because it was loaded with trees. That is the area of the subdivision that was actually developed first in the mid-1950's. There are about 25 to 30 houses in this immediate area. The whole sub-division has between 200 and 300 houses (too lazy to count!). One section of about 60 to 75 houses was still a cornfield when I was growing up. I knew who a lot of my neighbors were when growing up but didn't necessarily have relationships with them except for the ones who had girls in my class. There were about 8 of us that lived in this area and we would always walk as a group when going somewhere (school, football games which were right by our sub-division), dances at a dance hall in downtown etc).

These days, I do know some of my neighbors right around me and am friendly and talk with some of the others that I see when I take walks. But the funny thing is when I talk about the neighborhood and mention a specific house, I always say the name of the owners from the 60's/70's! A lot of those houses were owned by the same families for many years and only as the owners started passing away have they gotten new owners.

In fact, someone asked me once if I was the "mayor" of our sub-division because of living here so long. I laughed but as I thought about it, I realized that even though there are a couple other houses that have children of the original builders of the home living in them (actually right behind me and across the street from me), my house was built before both of theirs. So yeah, I guess I am the "mayor" since I am the resident that has lived in the neighborhood the longest!
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I love that you're the mayor of your sub-division! ;)

I also refer to the houses in my parents' neighborhood by the previous owners' names.
 
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