Does anyone else have a lonely neighborhood?

[Disneycrazymom]

Maybe it is just that time of the summer but my DS 10 is bored! I feel guilty because there are NO other kids in our neighborhood to play with. He goes to a small school and the kids in his class are pretty spread out, I have offered to drive over to get someone to play with, but that is hard to do daily. DD 3 has no one either. We really like our house and have wonderful neighbors, just no kids. Does anyone else have this problem? What do you do? It seems silly to send him to camp when I am home all day, and mostly he prefers to be here, except on days like today! Maybe someone with older kids could reassure me it will be ok. I just feel so bad for him right now.

 

[CourtasanSatine]

it's just as bad here,my DBF is a hour away and there's not exactly anymore my age in town right now

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

My DD is spending her first summer at home. She's got a younger friend next door and has been spending afternoons with her and her mom. She's still gets bored. There's others kids on our street, but I think most of them have brothers and sisters to keep them occupied. She could go to the playground or girls and boys club, both within walking distance. She refuses to go, so she suffers with the boredom. She's going visiting to her "babysitters" one day this week for a change of pace. She's grown close to her and her kids over the years and it will do her good to get out of our neighbor for a few hours.

 

[Wish Upon A Star]

We are in the same situation here . . .We moved to this house in 1992 at the time I had a 3 y/o DD. Didn't notice to much others in the neighborhood, just really loved the house and the street was quiet.

Needless to say we ended up realizing we were the youngest family with the youngest kids . . .DD is almost 14 and DS is 10 and they don't have anyone in the neighborhood to hang out with.

Neighborhoods are constantly changing and now there seems like there are a ton of kids around now, but they are at least 3 years younger than DS. More and more younger people have moved in and now I'm the "old" one (almost 36) with "old" kids.

I've always felt bad because I had 3 girls in my neighborhood who were the same age as me and we used to be outside for hours and hours . . .my kids always have a friend over or they go somewhere, but it's not the same as having friends right in the neighborhood.

 

[4greatboys]

I grew up in the boonies with no one around. Plus I was an only child. Talk about bored. Where our house is now there are no kids the ages of my 2 oldest but I do drive them to friends houses. We may move before the 2 little ones get much older so I will be looking for some other kiddies (nice kiddies ).

 

[Pin Wizard]

Same problem here. Love the house and the neighborhood, but there's no kids DS's age. There are very little ones and a few older ones around high school age. I'm pretty surprised since there's an elementary school across the main drag out in front of our development. DS's (on rare occasions) gets together with his classmates.

 

[delswife]

Oh I wish I could haved lived out in the boonies when I was raising my kids. When they were ages 13, 12 & 9 I became a single parent. We lived in a pretty "kid populated town" and sometimes the kids around where just terrible! Some days I had a house full of teens, laying around saying, "I bored". I think at that age they are bored, even if they are in group. Be afraid when they find something to do! Most of DS's friends were arrested for one stupid thing or another, (when they weren't bored). They started getting arrested at 13! I was really scared!
The first job I took as a CNA was the one place that hired me even after I said " I will only work here second shift, 3-11 after school, I will not work Sundays AND I will only work here if I can bring my kids with me." They agreed because of thier ages and every day they got off the bus, changed thier clothes and came with me to work. They knew while we were getting residents ready for dinner, they would be doing thier homework and having thier snacks. During dinner, they helped past out trays and put bibs on some people. After dinner DD would paint some of the ladies nails, and DS played BINGO or cards with the other residents. When they were tired, they slept on the couches watching TV.
My DS only one of the few that graduated high school, and the ONLY one that could get into the Air Force. DD will be graduating this year and colleges are already contacting her. They have both lost friends to drunk driving, one was murdered after a party, one just had an abortion and two friends OD(but lived).

Anyway, my point is I worked very hard keeping my kids away from the neighborhood kids. Becareful what you wish for. I think you are the luckiest moms in the world.

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

Interesting reverse POV delswife. I'm glad your kids turned out all right, big thank you to you for the hard work. (insert applause)

 

[powellrj]

When we moved into our house 18 years ago, ds was 2 and he was the only child on the block. I wasn't working so I found every free event in town to go to. We did story hours, swim lessons you name it we were there. Fast forward now the 2 youngest are 7 and 12 and the neighborhood is full of kids. Trust me, I would take a no kids neighborhood in a heartbeat. I work so the kids go to day camp all day at the church down the street. They have a wonderful day with swimming and bowling and putt-putt, they do something everyday. We get home and have anywhere from 2-20 kids waiting for us when we pull in. I am the only mom who works and so these kids have wandered the block waiting for something to do. For some reason stay at home mom around here isn't what it was when I was a stay at home mom.These kids never get to do anything. I am not talking about things that cost money, I mean the library, church, the parks department. Saturday I finally lost my temper and sent 17 kids home. We had been to kids day at the gym down the street which was free and which 3 other kids showed up for. I use to take some of these kids with us, but when you have to leave some behind, it causes hurt feelings so I stopped taking them with us. Sorry this is so long, but I guess I was just trying to say, that not having other kids around isn't always a bad thing.

 

[Kitty 34]

We have kids all different ages up and down our street. My boys were lucky when growing up because there were many kids to play Hide and Go Seek and Capture the Flag with.


But when I was a little girl, I remember living in a neighborhood with NO kids......my younger brothers and sisters became my playmates as they got older.

 

[JohnTBap]

Alyssa's best friend is three houses away. I feel so lucky.

 

[grinningghost]

Now that DD is 14, she can hang out with her friends that are all over the neighborhood, but when she was smaller, it was kind of rough. The only girls her age lived down the street, but they never hung out much, they had different ideas of what was fun.

The one thing I notice now is how EMPTY our streets are in summertime. When I was growing up in the 'burbs, there were tons of kids outside all the time. Now the kids are so overscheduled you never see them out. I feel kind of sorry for them.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Thank-you everyone for the replies. I never thought about the flip side of "bad friends". I will be thankful for what we have! Today we are off to the pool and dance class, and the rest of the week he will have a cousin to hang with, so it is better. I spend so much time second guessing everything. I always worry that I am not doing everything I can for my kids. DH reminds me that if he gets bored enough maybe he will do something useful like read a book, or practice his trumpet. Not too likely I don't think! Anyway thanks its nice to know I'm not alone.