Neighbours

There are so many kids around here, and they are usually playing in the road. There are about 4 families with 2 kids, most of whom are between the ages of about 5 and 10.

There are two little girls next door. They’re pretty aggressive. I heard their mother say the other day that she told them they’d have to come home if they kicked someone again! One day one of them was up on their monkey bars, singing across the lawn, “I FARTED! I faaaaarted hahahaha!”

Across the street are two boys, and their mother is totally obsessed with her lawn. I wish she’d spend as much time nurturing her children. She’s always just barking at them or threatening to smack them. A few days ago she came out to the curb where her older son was trading marbles (apparently marbles are cool again) and she said to his friends, “Yous guys like these STUPID marbles, too, eh?”

To the right of us are two more boys, who constantly shout at each other and run circles around the house and wrestle. Their father yells at them all the time to cut it out. They were playing with a water gun in the yard on a recent forty degree day, and he yelled out to them that he told them not to get each other wet and sent their friend home. Bizarre! Poor kids.

There’s a guy two doors down who’s been painting all the trim on his house. He plays bad 80’s rock at what’s got to be the loudest volume setting on his stereo, speakers pointed out the window. Graham calls him Sam the Record Man. It’s ridiculous, and usually at suppertime when people are trying to enjoy their barbeques and back yards. I’m hoping he’s painting all the trim because he’s trying to sell his house.

There’s a family behind us who has a trampoline, but fortunately their house is up for sale, so they’ve put it away for now. There were lots of 12 and 13 year olds jumping on it and yelping and swearing before that.

God, I sound like an old lady! Most of these people are actually quite friendly and seem to like to chit-chat. I’d just like to send them all to a parenting seminar. I’m sure it’s easier said than done, and you probably think I shouldn’t judge other people for their parenting skills until I’m a parent. But I’m a person. And I know I wouldn’t want to be spoken to the way a lot of these people speak to their kids.

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